Legacy
by silent-eternity
Summary: Eggman dies while testing a new weapon. His allies and enemies alike meet up for his funeral, but as the whole truth of the Doctor is revealed, can they prevent a possibly greater threat from finally completing Eggman's dream, and ruling the world?
1. Farewell, Doctor

**Legacy**

Disclaimer-I do not own Sonic or any affiliated characters, they are property of Sega, if you thought I did own them, then feel free to explain why.

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**Chapter 1-Farewell, Doctor**

The rain fell thick and heavy, casting a grey pallor over the small church and its adjoining cemetery. A taxi drew up, throwing a large arc of water over the church gates. Sonic stepped out, a grim expression covering his normally cocky face. Amy followed suit, with Tails bringing up the rear. All were dressed in full black attire, Amy complete with a shroud. It was quite different from what would have been expected at an insane megalomaniac's funeral.

There had been little talk on the way to the service, and there was again little as they ran for cover from the pouring rain into the church, where the service was to be held. Rouge, looking very unusual in a long, sleek black dress, so unlike the low-cut, revealing outfits she commonly wore. She opened conversation with a simple,

"So he's really gone." Tails nodded sadly,

"I'd never though I'd come to miss old Eggman." there were no taunts, no name-calling, nothing of the sort that had always happened at the mention of the Doctor's name. Sonic caught sight of Knuckles, standing a few yards away, talking to a swallow whom he didn't know, perhaps another enemy of the Doctor, or an ally. He gave the Echidna a very unenthusiastic and solemn wave, before wandering over to him, disinterested in Rouge's conversation.

Amy lowered her voice as she saw Sonic leave,

"Personally, I'm worried about Sonic. He hasn't been the same since he found out about Eggman's death. He hasn't tried to run away from me, despite me trying everything to annoy him." Rouge nodded,

"He just needs time to get to grips with Eggman's death hon." Amy opened her mouth to reply, but Sonic chose that moment to wander back over, his conversation with Knuckles finished. He did, indeed, seem the most depressed by Eggman's apparent death, which was odd in itself, Sonic having been such a bitter rival of the good Doctor. Before anyone could say anything more, the priest burst in, sodden wet from the rain, excusing himself for his lateness, and bidding everyone to take a seat.

The service lasted the better part of an hour. The world had very little to praise and thank Eggman for, except perhaps for making it that touch more exciting. But at last it was time for the speeches. Sonic rose sadly and made his way to the altar, of all those assembled, he had known, and fought, Eggman the longest. The hedgehog looked eerily grim in his dark suit, with his quills gelled down, except for one that rose in an almost comically fashion, where the torrential rain had worn the gel out.

He surveyed the audience briefly, there were only around twenty or so people, mostly rivals and enemies of the late Doctor. Some, like the swallow he had seen talking to Knuckles, he didn't recognise, though he could only guess they were other old rivals and perhaps allies of Eggman. He began,

"When I first met Dr. Eggman he went under his birth name, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. He was little the man he is...was, now, much crueller, much more grasping. At that time he didn't use his robots, but 'badniks', animals trapped inside a robotic suit, using them as his basic expendable soldier. I defeated him then, and he returned, each time with a more diabolic plan than the last. I kinda made it my job to beat him every time he came up with a new plan to take over the world. I never made my dislike of the good Doctor a secret, but now I look back on the past, I realize I wouldn't be half the hedgehog I am now if it hadn't been for him and his insane plans there to always give me a purpose in life." his voice faltered for a second,

"It was also on one of my many quests to defeat him that I met some of my best friends." He looked down at the large coffin that lay before him, taking in for the last time the features of his dearest enemy.

"So thank you, Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik, for giving my life meaning."

And so the speeches progressed, with various enemies and rare allies of the late Doctor trudging up and reminiscing of Eggman's many schemes, plans and inventions, crazy as some were.

After the speeches the motley grievers followed the priest out to the cemetery. The torrential downpour had melted into a saddening mist, that hung over the graveyard, like an engulfing blanket.

Eggman's voluminous coffin was carefully lowered into the grave and one by one the various acquaintances of the Doctor came up and threw a handful of dirt onto the coffin, sometimes silently, and sometimes whispering final goodbyes and even some thank you's.

The ceremony over, the grievers began to disperse back to whence they came. Finally, only Sonic, Amy, Rouge, Knuckles and Tails were left, standing over Eggman's gravestone, a simple marble slab, so unlike the Doctor himself. Sonic stayed for a few silent minutes, before muttering a farewell and trudging off through the marsh of mud and out into the street. Amy stared worriedly at his retreating back,

"Man, I guess Sonic really misses 'Buttnik." Knuckles said grimly, this statement earned him a glare from Amy,

"What?"

"Don't insult Eggman over his own tomb, it's disrespectful in the extreme." Amy muttered, almost hissing the words out. Knuckles raised his hands in an apologetic gesture. Rouge shook her head, partly at Knuckles tactlessness and Sonic's nostalgia of the Doctor,

"I guess the poor doll though it would last forever. That he and the Doctor would play rivals 'till the bitter end. Guess, he didn't expect Eggman to be crushed under a falling robot. He just needs time alone, to accept the fact that Eggman is gone." Tails stared at the gravestone, the rough, almost badly carved letter 'Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik' looking depressingly back at him,

"I can understand him though, I never expected Robotnik to die. I might have hated him, but never did I actually think he might be able to die."

"Life'll be pretty boring from now on. Be sure of that." agreed Knuckles.

They continued swapping remarks and memories a few minute more but the rain started up again, driving them out of the graveyard, leaving Eggman's grave standing there, looking lonely in its corner.

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Chapter 1 finished! It will get better later on and longer. Please R&R!


	2. Broken Dreams

rayzorbudgie- Thank you!

The Archaic Minister- An extra 'g' was added to Legacy to make it include the word 'egg', but I guess it can cast doubts on my spelling ability, so as you might notice, it's been changed.

tails blackheart- I won't reveal anything yet.

Now on with the chapter.

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**Chapter 2-Broken Dreams**

Sonic found himself in a darkly lit, featureless corridor, candles winking at him. From what he could see, the tunnel went on for miles in both directions. He suddenly felt he needed to get to the end, to find something, or someone. But which way to go? Eventually he let his instinct guide him, taking the better-lit tunnel. He started down the corridor, but stopped. The ground shook, and again, and again. Regularly he felt tremors. It seemed eerily like footsteps, a giant's footsteps. He could hear a rumbling now...no, not a rumbling, it was someone, or rather something, growling! There was no doubt about it, something huge was making its way towards him. He felt sudden fear root him in place. Why was he scared? He had faced robots and enemies many times larger than him many times before. The footfalls grew terrifyingly loud, and stopped.

For a few agonising moments Sonic heard nothing. Then, as though someone had flicked a switch, the very roof of the corridor, was torn off, then the walls, leaving the hedgehog standing on a long strip of metal that seemed to be floating in a black void, forever stretching on. Sonic felt his fear grow as he slowly looked up at whatever had ripped the entire roof and walls off. There was nothing...nothing but a red mist that grew around him, choking him with its opaqueness. The mist disappeared as suddenly as it had grown. There was a huge roar, louder than anything Sonic had ever heard. He felt both his ears ring with the very sound of the invisible creature's cry.

Terror swept through Sonic, his mind stopped, his legs kicked into action. He sprinted down the stretch of metal that had once been the corridor, the metal blurring under his eyes. He could hear loud, very loud, breathing behind him, and a quiet, snide laugh. Were there two people...or things, there? He heard a loud smash, pausing to look behind, he saw the very stretch of land, the only stretch of land perceivable in the void, had been torn down behind him, more and more was broken off. If he didn't get away he would go with it. The blue hedgehog started on his frenzied sprint once more, his mind filled with nothing but pure fear.

The ground before him gave way, Sonic almost fell into the featureless void. He swung round, there was nothing but a metre or so of the once endless corridor left. He could hear the unseen monster's heavy breathing again, and the snide laugh, crueller sounding this time. He was done for! He felt the ground disappear, he fell, down and down, into the bottomless darkness. At last he could see the monster, barely, a dark shape on a darker background, and a huge gaping maw, lined with fire. It spoke, and Sonic heard Eggman's voice echoed in it,

"Never to forget; never to forgive."

Sonic woke with a start, his heart hammering, covered in sweat, his breathing hard. He looked round with a dogged speed; no, everything was fine, he was home. Tails would no doubt be in bed, he could hear voices downstairs...or talking to someone. But the dream? The dream? Now his thoughts turned to it, he couldn't remember that ever-so-important dream. Something about a corridor wasn't it? He sat up, his mind churning hard, no use, the dream was gone from his memories. Anyway, it had only been a dream, what did it matter? He collapsed back onto his pillow, falling asleep moments later.

Downstairs, Tails indeed had company. Amy had insisted on staying, claiming she was too upset by the recent events, and too worried by Sonic's behaviour, to stay on her own. So Tails had let her stay for the night. He had made the both of them some hot chocolate, and presently they were reminiscing, going over the years spent fighting Dr. Eggman.

"D'you remember when he had freed Chaos? And when he had his huge Egg Carrier ship?" asked Tails, a far away look in his eyes. Amy smiled sadly,

"Don't remind me, I spent most of that time being chased a maniacal robot who wanted to kidnap a bird!" She looked thoughtfully at her hot chocolate for a moment,

"I used to hate Robotnik for his continual attacks, but now he's gone I actually miss them." Tails nodded sagely,

"Yeah, Sonic was right, they gave us something to do." Amy opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, a huge noise rent the air. Amy screamed, Tails jumped to his feet, knocking his mug over as he did,

"What..?" Tails breathed. Amy looked in fear towards the ceiling.

"That came from Sonic's room! I know it!" she shot up, almost tripping over herself as she scrambled up the stairs, closely followed by Tails.

The sound had indeed come from Sonic's bedroom. The room was a mess. Everything had been thrown about, broken, smashed, torn. A hole in the wall opposite Sonic's bed denoted an explosion of some kind. Sonic himself was gone. On the wall above the hedgehog's bed, written in what looked frighteningly like blood, was the phrase,

-Never to forget

Never to forgive-

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Cliffhanger-type-thing! As usual, please R&R.


	3. Shattered Emerald

petite-dreamer - Thank you!

rayzorbudgie - Yeah, I hate cliffies too...except when I inflict them on other poor people, mehehe. And don't worry, there is a developed plot.

tails blackheart - Well, once again, I won't reveal anything, but I can already say that Sonic won't die, not this early at least.

Onto Chapter 3!

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**Chapter 3 - Shattered Emerald**

Far from all of the excitement at Sonic's house, Knuckles lounged on the steps of the Master Emerald Shrine, lost in thought. He had not wanted to show it at the funeral, but in truth he too missed Eggman. A Guardian's life was boring, and uneventful. But the Doctor had always been there to manipulate Knuckles and steal the Master Emerald.

Looking back, he felt slightly irritated by Sonic's attitude towards Eggman's death. At least the hedgehog could still go where he wanted, could still do what he wanted, whereas the echidna was bound to stay near the Master Emerald at all times, to guard it. A long boresome life beckoned to him, and there was no way Knuckles wanted it.

He surveyed the tree-covered landscape of Angel Island impassively, sighing deeply. His eyes drunk in the all-too-familiar sights of the bland island he would be stuck watching for the better part, and probably the entirety, of his whole life.

Tired and suddenly feeling somewhat depressed, the echidna lay down on his back, watching the stars twinkle and gleam, free, all the way up there in the cosmos, taunting him. As though his very thoughts had conjured it, he heard a loud shout. No, wait, it was two shouts. Someone arguing? The shouts definitely sounded angry.

The echidna rose fluidly to his feet, perhaps his life wasn't to be mindless tedium just yet. The apparent argument was still going, and he rushed down the shrine steps, leaving the Master Emerald shining on its pedestal.

It was indeed an argument, and a vicious one too it seemed. Knuckles recognised the voices before he saw their owners. Espio the chameleon, and Mighty the armadillo. They had always been good friends, and Knuckles found himself wondering what could have cause this violent fight. He arrived straight in the middle of a new repartee between the arguers,

"You bastard Espio!" snarled Mighty, clearly beyond himself with anger. It seemed pretty serious, and for a moment it appeared that the furious armadillo was about to hit Espio. Knuckles decided to break the row up before the duo begun smashing each others' faces in. He stepped out from the foliage,

"What the hell are you two yelling about? How do you expect me to guard the Master Emerald with you two playing at old married couples?" Mighty gave a grunt and trudged off into the trees without so much as a look in Knuckles' direction. Espio gave a pained sigh. Knuckles pressed the subject,

"So what was that about?" The chameleon shrugged as if the reason was beyond him,

"I simply said it was about time Eggman died, he had had it coming to him for years." he paused for a second, "And then he went psycho on me, yelling about how I was rude and disrespectful, in much more colourful terms." Knuckles shook his head, clearly also at a loss about Mighty's sudden violent behaviour,

"I didn't know Mighty was so susceptible about insulting a dead guy who tried to kill us all-too-many times." Espio nodded sagely and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, a huge crash, much like that of a glass window smashing, rent the air. Knuckles did not hesitate for a second, he pushed past the surprised chameleon, sprinting in the direction of the Master Emerald's shrine.

"Oh fuck.." he breathed. The Master Emerald, and a large part of the shrine, was gone! Vaporised! Disappeared! Stolen away! He spun round, but no, there was nothing, not even any debris from the shrine, it had indeed simply vanished.

Then it hit him, he twirled round towards Espio and possibly Mighty's general direction, yelling, 'hold tight' as loud as he could. He barely had time to grab a small nearby tree before he felt his stomach flip over, the wind suddenly blazing up, whistling past his ears.

Floating Island was no longer floating. Angel Island was falling, falling down towards the earth.

The fall lasted for no longer than a few minuted, the winds threatening to tear Knuckles' very dreadlocks out. But at last they hit the planet, the impact slamming the echidna hard into the ground. He lay there for a moment groaning slightly, before remembering the urgency of the situation.

Almost jumping up, he spun round, Espio emerged, walking slightly tipsy, from the undergrowth, with a much calmed Mighty in tow, Knuckles gave them a grim frown,

"We're off to see Tails, it seems someone other than our good Doctor wanted the Master Emerald." before turning back he muttered, "Rouge better not be behind this."

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Well that's it for it Chapter 3. The next chapters will be longer, and most probably better. These first few chapters mostly set the scene. Please R&R!


	4. A Dream Manifold

rayzorbudgie - Once again, thank you! Chapters will get longer as the story progresses, trust me.

tails blackheart - Heh, guess you could say I'm pretty silent. As to your guesses, I won't tell reveal to you the Master Emerald's thief.

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**A Dream Manifold**

Sonic awoke in pitch black darkness. His head pulsed with pain, and, feeling with his hand, he could sense a bruise. What had happened? He had simply lain down to get back to sleep, when suddenly all had gone dark, as dark as the void surrounding him. Void. He had a sudden sense of having already been here. But, no, he hadn't, he was certain of that. He stood up, trying to peer through the dark veil that surrounded him. No use.

Then, as suddenly as if someone had flicked on a light switch, the void was gone, replaced by a grim stone corridor. There were numerous candles burning on the corridor sides, and Sonic's sense of deja vu heightened. The corridor went on for as far as the hedgehog could see. Like the dream. The dream? Yes, it was the dream! He remembered it now! The winding corridor, the terrifying monster... He spun round on the spot, suddenly paranoid. But how could this be his dream? He was awake. The hedgehog pinched himself hard on the arm, yes, definitely awake.

Well, the only way to continue, as far as Sonic could see, was to continue down the corridor. Which direction? Bah, go down the better-lit corridor. He had gone down that part in his dream too, no? He begun sprinting down, but the landscape did not disappear into a blur, as it usually did. His speed, his speed was gone! Disappeared! But how? Never mind, ask questions later, after he found out who was behind his apparent kidnapping.

He had only gone a few metres when, with frightening speed, a blade shot out from the left wall, the hedgehog ducked, the blade slicing through one of his quills. Shaking, Sonic slowly stood up. A pressure plate! How had he not seen it! So this place was booby-trapped! Feeling his freshly cut quill, he felt a slow fear fill him. He had been careless, and it had nearly cost him his life. Looking ahead, he could perceive another pressure plate, another trap. Who had brought him here, and why? To play some sick game? To watch the hedgehog struggle through a corridor full of traps? He shook a fist at the ceiling, yelling angrily,

"Who the hell are you!? What do you want!?" Then, the voice pervading from nowhere, he heard a reply,

"Why, to test your capabilities of course." It was not a cruel voice, not a kind voice either. Something between the two, a snide, but charming voice. One that had a hint of threat, and a hint of charm in it. Sonic lowered his fist,

"What..?" The voice cam again, with a touch of exasperation,

"It's very simple my dear hedgehog. There is an end to this corridor, if you can reach it, you shall be freed, if not, then you are obviously dead." Sonic frowned in barely suppressed rage,

"But why!? Why drag me here to make me go down a corridor!?" He heard the voice laugh slightly, quietly,

"The people I represent, Sonic, can never have enough tests." he heard a click, as if some device had been turned off, or on. Sonic stared at the ceiling disbelievingly,

"What!? What the hell does that mean!?" There was no reply, the only noise being Sonic's own breathing. He shouted the question again, still no response, the voice had gone, or was refusing to reply. For a second he wondered whether he had imagined it, or whether it had been the delusions of his own mind. Was this a dream? The sliced quill said otherwise.

Laying these worries aside, he continued onwards. He didn't trust the voice, despite its saying he would be free at the end of the course, but he had no other choice, it was that or err randomly in this dangerous corridor. He strode onwards, peering carefully, skirting the pressure plate he had previously seen. Another one, he contoured it. Yet another, once he had got the hand of finding them, it was easy to avoid the traps.

_Whirrr..._

Whirrr? What was happening, he looked around him, and saw what he had done, a motion sensor, placed on the ceiling, had seen him. Swearing loudly, Sonic dived backwards, as three spinning blades embedded themselves into the ground, where he had been standing.

The hedgehog swore as loudly as he could. He had been stupid in thinking there were only pressure plates to trigger traps. Still, he continued, peering round, at the floor, ceiling, and walls, making sure there was nothing, absolutely nothing, to trigger a deadly trap. There were a few more pressure plates, and motion sensors, even a trip beam. Who were these people? What did they hope to achieve by making the hedgehog go down a corridor, brimming with traps?

Perhaps an hour, perhaps half an hour, later he arrived at the end of the once apparently endless corridor. A simple doorway, with multiple trip beams surrounding him. No way in, not without triggering one of the beams. Sonic swore, how was he to exit this death-trap now? Risk all for everything, he decided. Bracing himself, he sprinted into the beams, and past. A deep rumble pervaded the corridor. Sonic spun round, remembering his dream, the monster. A piece of the corridor was ripped off, revealing darkness. The void.

It was happening! _It was happening!_ The monster was arriving! Fear swept across Sonic, he tried to open the door, but found he could not, it was locked! He looked round, more bits of the corridor were being torn out, more of the endless void was being revealed. He unconsciously whimpered in terror, banging hard on the door, hoping, praying there was someone on the other. Nothing, the door did not open. He spun round, shit! There was almost nothing left of the corridor, a few metres of ground, and the monster's heaving breathing could now be heard.

Sonic bit his lip hard to stop himself crying out in pure fear. He slammed his body hard into the door, again, and again. There was only a metre of corridor left! He heard a deep guttural roar, his ears ringing.

"Fuck, no, no, no, no, no..." he whimpered. He body slammed the door once more, it gave way. He slammed it shut, as though that would keep the creature out. It did. He could hear nothing more. There was nothing, no more. He slid down the door frame, breathing oh so deeply. A single, solitary tear of relief slid down his face. Composed again, he looked round the room he had burst into. It was a small, circular room, with a glass pod in its centre. He heard something click, and the voice from before made itself heard again,

"Well done. I had hopes for you. Though I admit I thought Belial was about to eat you just then." Sonic looked round, there was still no one,

"Belial?" The voice laughed,

"The great secret. But anyway. Your freedom, as promised, will be given once you enter the glass pod." An unseen door opened on the aforementioned pod. Sonic looked at it distrustedly,

"And what happens if I don't enter?" He heard the voice turn freezing cold,

"Then you can stay here until Belial comes through." Sonic whirled round, facing the door. Could that creature, Belial, get through? He didn't want to risk it. He slowly, almost painstakingly, entered the pod. The door closed, he though he heard the voice whisper,

"Good luck, my dear hedgehog."

He stood, somewhat cramped, in the transparent cylinder. Nothing happened, he opened his mouth to call out to the voice, to ask what was happening. But before he could even begin to ask, the room outside faded to the featureless void he had seen through the corridor, and he heard deep heavy snarling. Belial! The blue hedgehog tried to smash open the tube, suddenly terrified, but he found he could not move, something was holding him back. Then he saw them.

Where there had been nothing, he saw stars. Not many of them, around twenty perhaps. Green stars, he felt as though he was looking at a somewhat bland night sky, with only one-colour stars. The stars were getting bigger, however. A few moments later he realized they were not stars, but green emerald shards. No, wait, _the_ Master Emerald. Shards of the Master Emerald! But how? And why? Before he could answer any question, the twenty shards smashed through the glass pod, burrowing into Sonic's flesh, like crystalline maggots on a corpse. A wave of pain, followed by a wave of almost repugnant power, and Sonic faded into darkness.

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Chapter 4! And the longest chapter so far! Now the plot really begins to set in. As always please R&R!


	5. Preparation from Clues

rayzorbudgie - Thanks!

tails blackheart - The evil one is the villain, was that helpful? (Meheheh, I love refusing to give away the plot, so satisfying.)

petite-dreamer - Well, reading is watching I suppose.

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**Preparation from Clues**

The moon shone above Rouge's small and somewhat modest home. She had settled down in the house almost seven months earlier, finally deciding that a life of crime and spying wasn't going to help her sleep in a soft bed at night, at any rate, she was tired of constantly hiding round corners, spying on people and taking what wasn't quite hers. Presently the bat was tucked up in bed, sleeping deeply. However, she was wrenched out of the dream-world by a loud banging. Someone was knocking at the door? At this hour!?

Threatening to castrate whoever was trying to break her door down this late in the night, Rouge got out of bed, slipping into a night gown and tiredly making her way to the front door. When she opened the aforementioned door there was a torrent of yells,

"Sonic was..."

"And then there was writing..."

"In blood!" the bat sighed, rubbing her still-sleeping eyes, Tails and Amy? And what the hell was all this about? Sonic, writing, blood? Was Sonic even literate? She raised a hand, silencing the pair,

"Now tell me _exactly_ what the fuck this is about. Do you know what time it is!?" Tails and Amy looked at each other for a moment, before the fox began explaining their reasons for waking the bat at midnight,

"We were talking about Eggman, when we heard a loud noise from upstairs, where Sonic was sleeping, we rushed to his room and there..." Amy cut in, almost shrieking,

"Sonic was gone! And there was writing! In blood! Blood!" Rouge stared at the two, suddenly wide awake,

"Writing, and what did it say?" Amy tried to reply but Tails got there before her,

"'Never to forget, never to forgive' Make any sense?" Rouge suddenly froze, before scratching her head, looking very thoughtful,

"Y'know I think I once heard Eggman say that, when I was working for him, well, pretending to work for him. Yeah, he definitely did say that, hon. But it can't have been him." she asserted, remembering the funeral earlier, much earlier in the day. Tails looked confusedly at Amy, then at Rouge,

"Robotnik? But he's..." Amy finished is sentence grimly,

"Dead. So someone else is after Sonic, or us, or something to do with Sonic or us!"

"Or something to do with Eggman." Rouge interjected,

"Now that I think of it, Eggman often mentioned some thing, or place, whenever he said that, though admittedly he only said it about twice. The Dead Egg or something?" Tails gave something midpoint between a laugh and an surprised exclamation,

"The Death Egg!? What, was he still sore about that? But that was back in his Robotnik days, must've been years ago now!"

"Don't know hon, never asked." Amy shook her head as though refusing to do something,

"So our only link to Sonic is the Death Egg? What could possibly be there?" Tails opened his mouth to reply, but before he could even make a sound, he suddenly heard something,

"Tails!" He spun round, Knuckles? What was he doing here?

"Knux, what are you doing here?" Knuckles waved a hand at Tails in greetings, and they noticed that Espio and Mighty seemed to have followed the echidna. They all looked very grave,

"Someone, or something, has stolen the Master Emerald." Rouge looked at the two,

"First Sonic, now the Master Emerald? This isn't a coincidence." Knuckles looked questioningly at her,

"What's Blue done now?" Amy sighed sadly, answering weakly,

"He's got himself kidnapped, under our very noses, without us even seeing the kidnapper." Mighty nodded,

"Yeah, we didn't see who took the Master Emerald either." Amy thought she heard Espio mutter, 'only 'cause you were raging off in the other direction'. Tails exhaled grimly,

"Well the only clue we have so far is Eggman and the Death Egg." Knuckles cocked his head,

"The Death Egg, what does that old thing have to do with anything?" Rouge shook her head at the both of them,

"And for those who weren't around fifty or so years ago? Care to tell us what the Death Egg is?" Knuckles scratched his head,

"Some huge machine thing 'Buttnik made ages ago. A huge sphere thing, crashed somewhere to the north if I remember well." Tails gave a small nod,

"Yeah, apparently it was able to destroy entire zones. But we managed to send it crashing down to the ground before Robotnik managed to even start powering its laser. He rebuilt it later but we managed to send it down again and then he tried to re..." He was interrupted by Amy tapping her foot loudly and impatiently,

"Well what are we waiting for? Sonic could be in trouble! Sonic _is_ in trouble! He's probably being tortured or dangled over a pit of lava right now! And all we're doing is discussing the past!" And with that sombre reminder of the situation, they all nodded between each other, Rouge quickly returned back into her home to change into a more suitable outfit, and the party left, silent as the grave.

* * *

And chapter 4 done! Pretty short chapter this time, and the next one will be too, but they will get longer (eventually), I swear!


	6. The Death Egg

rayzorbudgie & tails blackheart - The villain will be revealed (kind of) in the chapter after this one, so don't worry, as satisfying as it would be, I'm not going to withhold the villain's identity until the end of the story.

Jaytard - Thanks!

And without much further ado, onto chapter 6.

* * *

**The Death Egg**

The Death Egg lay majestically in its crater, looking much like it had all that time ago when it had first flow through the airs, and later unwillingly crashed. The first rays of dawn were beginning to creep over the horizon, and they reflected off the still-shiny metal surface, giving it the appearance of a globe of light. The small party, Tails, Knuckles; Rouge, Amy; Espio, and Mighty, stood on a rocky ledge overlooking it.

"There it is." announced Tails unnecessarily, it was very hard to miss an object of that size. They made their way down the boulder-strewn path leading the the massive object. Mighty whistled in something that might have been admiration,

"Jeez, Eggman really was good at making huge machines" behind him, Rouge muttered,

"And that's what led to his death, too big, too easy to knock down." Finally they arrived before the structure, a large gash in the metal plating yawning like a cave before them.

Here we are." Tails said, once again, unnecessarily. They stepped into the Death Egg, the darkness swallowing them. Inside, no sunlight pervaded the stale darkness, but dimly, at the end of the corridor they had stepped into, they could see lights, flickering, but still functioning, like the proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

The party made their way through the rusted and destroyed corridors, climbing over debris, ducking under collapsed ceilings, jumping over gaps in the floor, and circumventing boulders that had somehow managed to pierce the Death Egg's plating when it had crashed. Finally they were there, the control room, Eggman's control room, or rather, Robotnik's control room.

It was not necessarily a large room, but it had a sense of greatness in it, a sense of grandness, a sense of power. A single, but sizeable, screen dominated the wall facing the entrance, with a single chair standing before it, and multiple keyboards. It was strangely undamaged. The screen was intact. The chair was untouched. There was a mug balanced on one of the keyboards. The very room seemed not to have yet noticed that the rest of the Death Egg had long crashed and rusted. They all stared around for some time before any of them said anything,

"There's no doubt, Eggman came here, pretty often too it seems" Amy said, pointing at the mug, Tails looked round curiously,

"I wonder what he done in this place? Write his memoirs? Concoct some new ide..." a sudden sharp slap to his head made him stop,

"Stop daydreaming, fox boy. It's your job to find out exactly what he done here, and what he had to do with Sonic and the Master Emerald's kidnapping." Rouge said, almost sounding as though she was reprimanding the kitsune for some mistake he had made. Tails raised his hands in a silent apology, and sat down in Eggman's chair. His first though was 'God, this is comfortable', his second 'I wonder if they'll mind me sleeping for a bit?' he looked over at Rouge, she inclined her head in an impatient sort of way. He had more important things to do than take a nap, Sonic was his friend, after all.

Slightly anxious, as he felt everyone's eyes bore into him, he booted the system up, a robotic voice called out,

"**Welcome back, Doctor"** Tails thought he heard Amy muttered 'typical Eggman' under her breath. The system was booted, now let's see, folders, 'Plans' and 'Designs'. Let's go for 'Plans'. He clicked on the folder, there were only two files in the folder, one – 'Pre-Conquest Plans', the other – 'Post-Conquest Plans'. He clicked on 'Pre-Conquest Plans', quickly scanning over the text, he couldn't see anything in particular, nothing that related to the current events, or that referenced the mysterious phrase they had found above Sonic's bed.

There was a crash from behind him, Tails spun round, as did the rest of them. Badniks! Probably left here after the Death Egg's crash. Knuckles cracked his knuckles,

"Right, we'll take care of this, Tails," he pointed an almost accusing mitten at the fox, "you find out what happened to my Emerald, and to Sonic." And with that the air was soon full of explosions, shouts, and the thrum of fists and feet against metal, and of metal against metal. Tails meanwhile perused Eggman's archives, trying hard to ignore the sounds of his friends fighting against the hordes of badniks that seemed to have surged from nowhere.

_'Amazing, Eggman seems to have planned everything from his rise to power up to his death'_ he scanned down another list of ideas the Doctor had had,_ 'He's even got plans for schools and stadiums!' _Laying aside his sudden feelings of respect for the late megalomaniac, he changed folders over to 'Designs', perhaps there would be something there. He could still hear the fight going on behind him, and he hoped nowhere had been hurt. One file in particular caught his eye 'Chaos Computer'. He clicked onto it. Quickly scanning over the design he felt awed by the Robonik's sheer genius. But he did not hold onto that feeling for long, as his attention was caught by the ending phrase of the file,

-Never to forget, never to forgive?-

This was it! He quickly read the file in depth. A cave? Sonic? Some computer? Worth a try. He turned round to tell the others he had found what they had come here looking for, but suddenly a badnik loomed over him, some bomb-wielding monkey. He ducked under the bomb, smashing the robot to one side, sprinted out, and slammed the door shut. A muffled explosion was heard from the room. He spun round and cried out for the others to meet him outside, that he knew where Sonic probably was.

They had all got out safely, more or less. Amy had either managed to apply some black make-up to her left eye during the battle, or had received a black eye, most probably the latter. Rouge brushed some grime off her glove, sighing,

"There must still be some production plant in there or something, there was too many of them for them to have simply been survivors of the crash." this aroused a round of nods, while Amy rubbed her beaten eye impatiently,

"Well? You said you knew were Sonic was?" she questioned Tails. The fox nodded,

"Well, when I was looking through some of Eggman's designs, I found some machine he'd designed which he called a 'Chaos Computer'. According to him, by linking someone who could use Chaos Energy, like Sonic, to the Master Emerald, you could make a computer that had total power over Chaos Energy, and probably therefore, the universe. But it had to be linked in a place that had a natural spring of Chaos Energy, and he mentions there was a cave nearby where such a spring existed." Mighty shook his head,

"So basically, what you're saying is that some guy kidnapped Sonic, and stole the Master Emerald...to make a computer?" Rouge rolled her eyes,

"It might not be a man, you chauvinist." she muttered. Amy looked between to two of them, clearly exasperated,

"Does it matter!? We need to find Sonic! Before this maniac manages to 'link' him, or whatever he's (or she) going to do!" Knuckles nodded,

"Yeah, and we need to get the Master Emerald back, before whatever bloody thief stole it manages to damage it." Rouge spun round to face Tails, looking frighteningly like some inquisitor,

"Where did you say this cave was?" Tails pointed towards the rising sun,

"Just east of here, perhaps ten minutes away I think, Eggman wasn't too precise." Amy swung his Piko-Piko Hammer, which she had somehow managed to get out without anyone noticing, in a threatening manner,

"Well then, let's go find us a maniac and get Sonic back."

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Despite my previous allegations that it would be pretty short, it turned out to be quite a long chapter, ah well, the next chapter will have to be extra short to compensate. Please R&R!


	7. Traitorous Cave

rayzorbudgie - Thanks! ^^

tails blackheart - I'll be honest, I'll be surprised if you actually know who it is, read to see why ^^.

* * *

**Traitorous Cave**

The sun was high in the sky when Tails, Rouge; Knuckles, Espio; Mighty, and Amy finally reached the cave they had bee searching for. It was not a particularly conspicuous cave, just a small passage covered by a makeshift wooden door, and guarded by a not-so-makeshift robot. Amy eyed the robot sentinel warily,

"Any ideas how we get in? And where we're heading when we actually get in?" she asked the assembled party, Tails in particular. Mighty gave a grunt,

"I have one. We kill the robot, rush in, find Sonic and the Master Emerald, and get out." Behind him, Rouge gave a sigh,

"Excellent idea, brainiac, have you thought of becoming a full-time tactical advisor? I'm sure G.U.N or some other organization could put your strategic skills to good use." she hissed sarcastically. Espio gave a quiet but audible snigger, he and Mighty still didn't seem to be on the best of terms. Mighty rounded on him,

"And have _you_ got any i..." it was then that something hit him in the back of the head, he fell forward, rolled once and landed in a crumpled heap. Something else shot past him, apparently hitting Espio in the arm, knocking him backwards onto the ground. A metallic voice rang out,

"**All Non-Authorized Persons Are To Be Terminated.**" the guard had found them! Wielding a nasty looking gun, it proceeded to aim it at Tails. Tails dived out of the way, and the robot fired, metallic slugs embedding themselves in the rocks behind the kitsune. The guard attempted to aim once more, but its legs collapsed beneath it, knocked down by an angry Amy and her Piko-Piko Hammer. Amy attempted to hit the machine again, but its arm shot out and grabbed her by the neck, squeezing tightly. There was a loud bang, and the robot's head fell off, in an almost comical way. Her gun barrel still smoking, Rouge gave another sigh,

"That could have been nasty." she commented. Sheathing her weapon, she quickly glanced at the cave entrance to make sure nothing inside had been drawn out by the sound of the fight. Apparently not. With an anxious expression covering her face, she went over to Espio, who was nursing his arm.

"It's fine. It's fine. Just a bit sore." he muttered, before putting on a ridiculous grin, "Probably won't be able to use it for some time to tell the truth." Mighty gave him a friendly rap on the head, his plates having protected him from the guard's fire,

"Ought to be more careful next time." he grinned. Rouge gave him a glacial glare,

"He's just been shot! Show some respect!" Mighty raised his hands in a silent apology.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Espio grunted again, pulling himself up, "Now let's continue."

The cave was not so much a cave as a winding corridor lit with torches, that simply led down, down, and further down. Just when it seemed that it did indeed appear to go on endlessly, they reached a large iron door.

"Great," sighed Tails, "what now?" Amy pushed past him, giving the door a small prod, it swung open silently. Beyond they could see nothing but a relatively small stone chamber and, mounted on the far wall, a large TV monitor. Amy gave Tails a reprimanding stare,

"I thought you said Sonic would be here?" Tails raised his hands in defense,

"I could have sworn he would be here." behind the pair, Knuckles studied the monitor, giving it a slight poke. It flashed into life, snow filling the screen, and a voice coming from it,

"Ah, it's about time you arrived. I've been waiting for more than an hour! What took you so long?"

It was not a kind voice, but neither was it a cruel one. It had a kind of charm to it, with the merest hint of threat underlying that charm, that gave the voice a kind of uniqueness. The voice didn't wait for an answer,

"Wait, let me just get the screen working. Just need to push this." there was an audible click, and the screen flared once before forming into the silhouette of a man, it sharpened, more and more. Finally they could see him with a life-like clarity. He was clearly not a young man, as his grey hair denoted, but he was clearly not amazingly old either. He was balding slightly, his grey frizzled hair forming a kind of circlet around his head, he had remarkably large eyebrows, and, his steel grey eyes stared at them all impassively. He seemed to be wearing a sort of long black outfit, a cross between a robe, a kimono and a trench-coat. He looked, all in all, rather conspicuous, and rather strange.

He gave them all a coldly charming smile,

"I suppose I should introduce myself, no? I am Yanric Kintol, adviser to a certain group of people who I've little doubt, you shall be meeting sooner or later." he looked at each of them in turn, studying them,

"As you can guess, the people I work for, have kidnapped both your hedgehog, and your emerald. But you needn't concern yourself with that." Amy and Knuckles barged past everyone, almost speaking in unison,

"Where's Sonic!?"

"What have you done with my emerald!?" Yanric gave them both a stare that would have made a robot squirm uncomfortably,

"Calm down! They are under no harm, though you can't really harm an emerald at any rate." his smile broadened a few teeth,

"At least, they are, at this present time, under no harm." he sighed as the group protested some more,

"Calm! Let me finish. I'm to tell you that you have lost, before you even begun. At midnight my employers' plans will be complete, and they will have won!" suddenly, screams of agony, and anguish filled the chamber. Yanric gave them all a sub-zero smile, he pointed off screen, most probably in the direction of the screams,

"That would be Sonic. He is, as you hear, alive." he began to stride off screen, but hung back for a second, pointing an almost accusing finger at them,

"Oh, two last things. We have a traitor among you. And this cave is to explode, or implode, I can't remember which, when I leave the screen. Scurry along." And with those chilling words he strode off screen, in the direction of the pained screams.

When Yanric had left, the monitor blacked out, the screams faded out, and there was silence for a moment. Then a countdown flared up on screen.

_30_

At once they all began pushing, barging, past each other, friends racing against friends to get out quickly, before the threatened bomb went off.

_25_

Amy slipped, falling down, Tails had the quick clarity of mind to help her back up quickly.

_20_

Espio struggled, his wounded arm paining him. Rouge, at the back of the charge, pushed him forward.

_15_

The corridor stretched on and on.

_10_

The torched in their brackets, mounted on the walls, seemed to glare at them, as though it was their fault they were to be blown to dust.

_5_

Sunlight gaped through the rickety wooden door, freedom beckoned.

_0_

_Click...click.....CLICK_

They all pushed out into the sun, diving behind any shelter they could find, rocks, trees, each other.

_Whirrrr..._

There was a deafening roar, a sudden silence, and then another deafening roar. Stones flew over their heads as they all fell onto the ground. They could heard the solid 'thunks' as the stoned landed heavily on the ground. Knuckles dived out the way as a particularly large stone sailed towards his head. The barrage continued for a few moments more, and then there was nothing. Tails poked his head over the boulder he had been hiding behind.

The cave was no longer there, there was a large pit where it had once stood. Stoned littered the ground around it, and several trees had been flattened. Mighty, raising his head warily up next to him, gave a whistle,

"I get the feeling that guy wasn't bluffing." his voice held a tinge of anger, and even admiration. Behind them, Amy, who was treating Espio's arm, sigh sadly,

"I'm more worried by what he said before the whole bomb attack. Y'know, the whole 'traitor thing'." Rouge breathed deeply,

"He was clearly bluffing, there isn't a traitor. He's just trying to split us up." Mighty spu round and gave her a glare,

"Of course you'd say that if you were the traitor!" Tails called the two to silence,

"We can't afford to fight between ourselves, let's just find Sonic." Knuckles gave Tails a rap on the head,

"And do you have any idea where he actually is, genius?" Rouge huffed,

"Don't any of you pay attention? Our _good friend _Yanric was standing in front of some very Echidnan looking murals. And..." Amy cut in,

"The only Echidnan ruins within miles of this place are the ones at Mystic Ruins" she stood up, having finished patching Espio's arm,

"Well? Let's go!"

* * *

Sorry for the slow update, internet problems and tests don't leave much time for writing. As usual please R&R!


	8. Pyramidal Betrayal

tails blackheart - I will say that there's a bad guy behind the bad guys behind the bad guy, something like that. (Even I'm confused by all this ^^' )

rayzorbudgie - Oh noes! Quick! Use this anti-blindness cream!

Confusion and blindness aside, onto the chapter.

* * *

**Pyramidal Betrayal**

The great stone pyramid stood proudly surrounded by the ruins of its enclosure, witnesses of the ancient age of the echidnas. Dwarfed by its vastness, Amy, Tails; Rouge, Knuckles, Mighty and Espio congregated at its base, standing before the stairs that ascended the mighty pyramid. Amy looked around almost impatiently, there was no sign of even animals being here, let alone Sonic and his captors,

"Well?" she asked, exhaling loudly. Rouge sighed,

"They'll be inside, _obviously_." the bat spun round, not giving Amy a second glance, and began climbing the flight of stairs. They all followed in silence, their minds churning with the information they had learnt in the past hours. Was there a traitor among them? It was an unthinkable idea, all present had been through thick and thin with each other. There was absolutely no way any of them could possible betray the rest, but the seeds of doubt had been sown.

A few minutes later they stood, staring at the stone entrance to the once grand temple. It was a hole, leading down into darkness. Mighty peered down it warily,

"Is this even safe?" Knuckles rolled his eyes

"Of course, I've used it before. Now let's find blue, and my Emerald." and with that, he jumped through the opening. They heard him descending into the depths of the monument. For a moment no one moved, and then Rouge pushed past and cautiously climbed down, followed by Espio and then Mighty and Amy, with Tails bringing up the rear. It was a slide, pure and simple, a long smooth toboggan that went on for a minute or two, before landing them all onto a cold stone floor. Rouge heaved herself up

"Where are we?" They had landed in a small stone chamber, an archway beckoned towards a huge cavern beyond. Tails rubbed his head where he had landed on it,

"Inside the pyramid I'd guess." Amy jumped to her feet,

"Come on! Let's go." they moved on to the next chamber, which led to a long stone corridor, once past the relief adorned tunnel they arrived in another corridor, this time with large stone windows set in the right wall that revealed the mountainous terrain beyond,

"Where _are_ we?" Espio asked, looking at the unfamiliar landscape. Before anyone could answer, a panel opened in the wall to their left, and a huge boulder rolled towards them. Surprised, they all dived out of the way. The boulder rolled harmlessly past them. The group all picked themselves up, but were all knocked down once more as the boulder impacted with one of the windows, sending chunks of stone flying, and creating an opening through which it fell down to the ground. Mighty, put off balance by the crash and having dived too far out of the boulder's way, teetered on the edge of the new hole in the wall. Unable to balance himself, he fell out from the hole, his hand just managing to grab the edge of the wall,

"Someone, help!" he cried, fear obvious in his voice. Knuckles rushed over, grabbing the armadillo's arm and trying to pull him back up,

"Jeez Mighty, how much do you weigh?" Mighty looked indignant for a moment, despite hanging over a fall of several hundred feet,

"It's my armour plates." he muttered. Espio moved over, also taking Mighty's arm with his one good arm and pulling. Together, they pulled the armadillo back up onto the corridor. Mighty breathed hard for a moment,

"Thanks guys." he panted. Amy, pulled him up,

"No time to waste. Let's go!"

The alternation between chambers and corridors continued on for an hour more or so, the ruins didn't seem to have an end, it was difficult to believe that any race could have built such a huge monument that appeared to stretch for miles. Finally they arrived at a huge chamber, heavily decorated with mosaics of echidnas and their temple itself, and flooded with water. A gigantic stone snake swam its way around the place. The exit was at the other side of the room, but how to get there? Rouge stared at the snake suspiciously,

"So, is it alive?" Tails shook his head,

"I don't think so, I remember Sonic told me about a similar chamber, with a stone snake swimming around." the sombre reminder of the friend in peril emboldened them, and Amy wasted no time in jumping onto the snake as it swam past them. If it was alive, it didn't seem to mind their presence. Taking a leap, Espio vaulted onto the snake with her, closely followed by Rouge, who only just managed to grab the snake's tail. A minute or so later, they approached the exit platform. A quick series of acrobatics, and they all stood there, waiting for the other. A few minutes later, and they all stood before the impressive gemstone-studded door that led to the next room.

"How do we get it open?" queried Tails. Knuckles gave the door a push, it swung silently, giving it a very odd appearance, the heavy looking stone door swinging like a simple wooden one. It was pitch black beyond, Amy peered through,

"It's very dark." she said, stating the rather obvious. As if by enchantment, torched blazed, revealing a massive chamber, adorned with more mosaics than they knew numbers. They cautiously strode in, and there they saw them, at the far side of the chamber. Yanric Kintol, five sleek-looking robots, each painted a different colour; green, red, blue, yellow and purple, the Master Emerald, and beside it, hooked to some strange contraption, Sonic. Amy gave something mid-way between a shriek and a cry,

"Sonic!" she sprinted towards him but Yanric held up a hand,

"Stop!" he cried, Amy stopped, "Don't get closer! My employers here," he gestured towards the robots, "won't allow you to get too close." Amy glared at them defiantly,

"If you think a few robots will keep me from helping Sonic, then you're wrong!" she continued running towards them. The green robot gave a low hiss, there was a green flash, and Amy was being held by the neck by the robot. Knuckles ran forward, but the robot, quick as lightning, threw Amy at the echidna, and both fell to the floor. The robot gave another hiss, and proceeded to speak, in a hissing, clunking voice, much like a badly-oiled machine,

**"Do not interfere with the proceedings. Or you will be terminated." **Satisfied with this, he turned round to Yanric,

**"Time grows short. prepare the Chaos Computer. Set all into motion."** Yanric nodded, flicking a switch on the machine. There was a loud hum that reverberated throughout the entire chamber, Tail, Rouge, Mighty and Espio moved towards Amy and Knuckles,

"We need to stop them using that Chaos Computer, and find a way to free Sonic!" whispered Tails, Knuckles, disentangling himself from Amy, exhaled angrily,

"And _how_ do you suggest we do that!? Did you see just how fast that robot moved? I don't even think Blue's that fast." Yanric, having prepared the Chaos Computer, turned round to the group, and much like a host at a dinner party, called for silence,

"Before we start, I think a certain _someone_ needs to come forward. Time for betrayal I think!" There was a deep laugh from behind the heroes,

"You never cease to surprise me, Yanric. I thought we had agreed I was going to come forward _after_ the Chaos Computer had been used?" The group spun round. There stood Mighty, a gun, having been procured from seemingly nowhere, levelled straight a Tail's head,

"Betrayal's only half the fun," he snarled, looking more like some feral demon than an armadillo, his eyes hard like diamonds, his hands not quivering, "I prefer the killing part."

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Cliffhanger! RUN! But before you do, please R&R!


	9. Shards of Trust

revan blackheart - It is pretty confusing ^^'

DarkspineSilver92 - Thanks! ^^

petite-dreamer - It was pretty obvious, ^^ but if you've managed to guess what'll happen in this chapter, you deserve a medal, a nice shiny gold one, and don't worry, the next chapter will be devoted to Sonic's suffering during all this ^^' .

* * *

**Shards of Trust**

Silence filled the chamber as the group looked on in sheer surprise at Mighty's apparent betrayal. Finally, Espio found the courage to talk,

"Why..?" he asked simply. Mighty, gave him a glare,

"It's very simple, Eggman is my father." this revelation was received with another bout of stunned silence. Rouge took it on her to speak,

"How is that even possible? He is...was Human, you're an armadillo." Mighty turned his blazing eyes on her,

"My _adopted _father, _obviously_. He found me when I was a child, my parents had died, so he took it on him to raise me. Eventually I decided I wanted to help him in his great work." Rouge gave a sneer,

"'Great work', he was trying to take over the world!" Mighty spun his gun onto her,

"Don't pretend to understand him!" he snarled, "I had to watch every time you fools beat him, the bouts of sadness he was overcome with! I had to watch as the only father I had ever known wasted away because you bastards couldn't even try to understand him or his ideas!" At the far side of the room, Yanric gave a bemused sigh,

"Yes thank you Mighty. Now if we could get on with the plan?" With these words, all hell broke loose. Mighty gave a feral cry, aiming the gun at Rouge's head and firing, Espio took a dive, receiving the bullet in his stomach. The red robot spun round to face Yanric, a sword unsheathing from his arm, and plunged the blade into Yanric's gut. Something clicked in Amy's head, she drew her Piko-Piko Hammer and charged towards Sonic and the Chaos Computer.

The purple robot flew forward, arm extended to attack Amy, but he was threw to the side by the Piko-Piko Hammer. Like a furious cylcone, Amy swept away anything and everything that tried to get to her. She noticed it too late, the Master Emerald was just before her! She tried to stop, but failed. The hammer hit the emerald hard, a crack reverberated within the chamber, and the emerald dissolved in a flash of green light, leaving only a pile of greenish dust on the ground. Amy stopped for a moment, breathing hard, then the dust rose into the air, arranging itself into a ring, it flew outwards, and everyone fell to the ground, knocked down by some invisible shock-wave.

Then, as quickly as they were knocked down, they were back up, Amy ran for Sonic, ripping the wires that had fused him with the now destroyed Master Emerald out of him, trying desperately without success to shake him into consciousness. As she tried to wake the hedgehog, the purple robot she had knocked aside came up behind her, knocking her down to the floor, where she didn't get up. The robot, in turn, fell as a sudden impact made him fall, Rouge stood behind him, wielding Amy's fearsome Piko-Piko Hammer,

"Goodbye." she said simply, swinging the hammer with all her force. It hit the robot's head, sending both it and Rouge flying.

While this was happening, Tails ran for Yanric, closely followed by Knuckles. Since Yanric was now the one betrayed, surely he would...could help them? He reached the once proud man. Blood was flowing freely from the wound in his stomach, he grabbed Tails, rasping hoarsely,

"Tails...Belial...is freed...Eggman, Echidnas...go, the deserts...the proph...the pro..." and with that he fell down, his life drained.

The red robot gave what might have been a metallic sigh,

**"Enough. Brethren, Mighty, Knuckles, we leave. Regroup at the base." **Knuckles!? On cue, the echidna sent a fist Tail's way, knocking him to the floor, and with that last attack, they all escaped through a small tunnel that had been bored through the rock of the walls. Rouge went after them, shouting abuse, but Tails stopped her,

"Enough, enough, we need to help Espio!" with that sombre reminder of Mighty's dark deed, they ran for the chameleon, but he was already dead, his face still contorted in a visage of incredulity. Rouge stood over him for a few seconds, before sinking to her knees, tears flowing freely from her eyes. Tails gave her a comforting tap on the shoulder, before moving away to check on Amy and Sonic. Rouge, now alone, placed her hand in the small puddle of Espio's blood that had gathered at the base of his corpse, she smeared the blood on her gloves, whispering one thing continuously,

"You better hope you die before I find you, Mighty!" she reluctantly closed Espio's eyelids, got up painstakingly, and made her way to the two hedgehogs. Amy was fine it seemed, a slight headache, a bruise, but nothing drastic. Sonic, despite all attempts, stayed unconscious. Seated on the cold stone floor, they all debated what to do next,

"We should leave at once, if they return, we doomed." said Tails, rubbing his eyes wearily. Rouge gave an angry exclamation,

"What! And leave Espio's...corpse here to rot away or be eaten by animals!?" she buried her face in her hands, as Tails sat by uncomfortably. What had happened? Espio dead. Sonic unconscious. Mighty and Knuckles traitors. Rouge uncharacteristically hysterical – had something been happening with Espio and her? There was no time to inquire or discuss it. Amy, breathing hard, sat down beside them,

"We've no choice." she said simply, "I don't like it any more than you Rouge. But we can't just stay down here! We need to go after them, make them pay." Tails shook his head,

"No, I think we should get to the desert," he told them Yanric's dying words. Rouge glared at him for a moment,

"And what makes you think we can trust him?" Tails raised his hands in defense,

"The fact that he had just been betrayed by the robots, and would probably be pretty pissed off with them." Amy got up slowly,

"It's the best we've got, unless you'd rather chase after them, and get _killed_." Rouge stood up too,

"Hey! Just a moment ago, you were agreeing with me!" Amy looked at Sonic's unconscious form, and at Espio lifeless body,

"Things change."

* * *

Oh noes! What will happen!? Please R&R!


	10. Unconscious Truth

Whats? Another chapter so soon? Well, with exams finished, and the weather here being wetter than in the ocean, I pretty much have too much of free time ^^ .

revan blackheart - How could you hate Knuckles!? He's, like, the most uber character evur!

petite-dreamer - Yay, someone else uses 'Oh noes' as well! ^^ Fair dues on the grammar notes, but I can't break the habits of a lifetime I'm afraid, and I'm far too lazy to try.

* * *

**Unconscious Truth**

There had been a rush of pure joy, a sudden feeling that he could do anything, that he, Sonic, was nothing less than a god, that he was greater than the greatest of gods. But then that wondrous feeling had quickly been replaced by a protracted bout of agony. It had felt like every atom in his body had been ripped apart, stabbed, cut up, diced, burnt, and then remade and had the same torture inflicted on itself once more. The hedgehog, unable to do anything with the formidable pain that was being inflicted on him, curled into a ball, and waited. How long was he curled into a protective ball? He didn't know, time held no relevance, for him there was nothing besides the constant pain. Finally, the agony ended.

Hesitatingly, Sonic uncurled himself. For the first time since the sudden agony he looked around. There was nothing. He was floating in a featureless black void. His thoughts suddenly turned to the fearsome Belial, that invisible creature that had haunted his dreams, and almost killed him. What had happened again? The voice, the room, the capsule. He remembered now, the Emerald shards! He hastily examined his arm, where he remembered one of the shards had burrowed into him. Nothing, not even a mark. Had it been real? There was no doubt that pain had been, the fear. The emotions had been real. The void he was floating in was real, at least, he thought it was.

How long he stayed there, floating inanely in that dark expanse he didn't know. Time merged into one long moment, captured forever in that featureless place. Where exactly was he? Why had he been brought here? He looked at his arm again, why had those Emerald shards been infused into him? Almost as though trying to answer his question, the very arm he had been looking at glowed a light, ethereal green. Chaos energy? Unable to take these vague indications and, overall, this eerie silence and darkness, he shouted out, bawling at the top of his voice,

"Why am I here!!?"

His voice echoed, filling the void with a cacophony of shouts. Then, he heard it, a tiny scratching noise, a tiny stab of light, a tiny hole of brightness in the dark expanse. He tried to make his way over to it, clumsily trying to swim in that infinite ocean of nothing. The point of light grew larger, brighter. He was blinding by it, he stopped moving; but it didn't stop growing. He was enveloped by the sheer brightness of it, and the scratching grew louder.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The light dimmed, the scratching came to a close. Sonic tentatively opened his eyes. Where was he _now_? The dark void had been replaced by a circular room, with whitewashed walls, tiled flooring, and nothing else. He had swapped an infinite expanse of nothing for a limited room of nothing. Still, at least there was a solid surface beneath him.

"That's a good point actually. It's very worrying floating in nothing." _That voice!?_ The hedgehog spun round, there was no one! But _that voice!? _He recognised it from somewhere. And then it struck him,

"Eggman!?" he called out. There was a silence for a few moments, and Sonic actually found himself wishing his old rival was here, just so his situation could regain _some_ normalcy. He heard Eggman's voice again,

"Behind you rodent." Sonic spun round, and this time, Eggman was there. How was this possible!? Eggman was dead! He had seen the body himself! They had buried it! Had he somehow faked his death!? Eggman gave him a trademark grin,

"No I didn't. At least, to the best of your knowledge I didn't." What? Had Eggman somehow read his thoughts? Another grin,

"In a way, yes." Sonic couldn't take it any longer,

"Shut up Buttnik, and tell me where we are, what I'm doing here, and why you're alive."

For a while, Eggman was silent, as though he was wondering whether he should tell his arch-nemesis anything. Then he shrugged and said,

"You tell me. I know as much as you, literally." Sonic ran a hand through his quills angrily,

"Enough mind and word-games. Tell me the truth." Eggman gave a wide smile, and almost cackled,

"The truth? I'm your conscience Sonic." Sonic gave a burst of laughter,

"Right, and I'm President." his eyes hardened, he had had enough of all this secrecy,

"Tell me the truth."

Eggman raised his hands in a sardonic manner,

"That was the truth Sonic. You're actually unconscious. This is your subconscious." He waved his hands around the bland room, and the walls faded for a moment, back to the black void,

"I'm not actually here, you're not actually here. This is what you're imagining. I'm still dead, but you're imagining me being alive, and therefore I only know what you know." he gave the hedgehog a smile,

"You know all this, though you haven't realized it yet." Sonic a chuckle of disbelief,

"Riight. So how come I _don't_ know all this?" Eggman looked him in the eye, his expression serious,

"You know a lot more than you know you know." Sonic had had enough of this, jumping into the air, he attempted to spin dash into the walls, and went straight through. He was back into the void

_'No, no! Not again!' _he thought desperately. As though reading his thoughts, a hard surface materialize beneath him. He was now standing on a platform in the ocean of infinity. A sudden spasm of pain racked his body, he thought he heard Eggman walk up beside him. The pain became atrocious, he fell down, unable to stop himself crying out in agony. He saw Eggman's feet, followed by his face as the Doctor bent down to see the hedgehog closer,

"Go...go away!" cried Sonic. The Doctor slowly faded away. The pain grew worse, and the last thing he saw was a faint glimmer of light.

* * *

Is the good Doctor alive or not? Has Sonic gone insane? Will the plot grow evermore complicated? Find out next time, or the time after time, or the one after that, etc. In the meanwhile, please R&R!


	11. Enigma

revan blackheart - Why indeed?

And after that short unhelpful answer, onto the chapter!

* * *

**Enigma**

Tails' house, standing on it's solitary plateau overlooking the Mystic Ruins train station, had never looked so saddening; but everything was saddening to Rouge now. Tails, Amy, the unconscious Sonic, and herself had quickly left the echidnan pyramid after the debacle that saw two friends become enemies...and one friend become a corpse. She and Espio had loved each other, she had never admitted it to anyone, but now the secret screamed to be free.

_My chameleon is gone, forever._

They silently entered the room, Amy and Tails hauling Sonic onto the couch. The bat turned the TV on in silence, and was shocked by the sudden scenes of carnage that were shown. Station Square, Westopolis, Central City, they were all under attack, a unstoppable force of destructive robots sweeping through each city, she blindly heard the reporter mention that the robot forces appeared to be led by an echidna and an armadillo, who claimed they were 'avenging an old friend with his enemies blood'.

_'So they had a backup plan all that time...'_

Amy and Tails had noticed too,

"How...how could they..?" stammered Amy, who still didn't seem to understand that their former friends had left them for a group of megalomaniacal robots. Rouge huffed angrily,

"Because they're evil, and should be killed!" she snapped.

_My chameleon is gone, forever._

Tails stepped in before any argument could occur,

"That's not what matters at the moment. We need to get to the desert. Which means passing through Red Mountain." he said, his voice quavering slightly. What had happened to the old adventures, where he and Sonic would chase Dr. Eggman, defeat him, and save the day? He longed, pined, for those days. Rouge turned away, a solitary tear running down her face.

_My chameleon is gone, forever._

The bat brushed the tear away, there were better things to do than grieve, avenge Espio for a start. She turned back to the others,

"We should leave immediately." Amy looked at her in surprise,

"What? What about Sonic, he's still unconscious!" Tails looked grim for a moment,

"Rouge is right. You saw how fast they moved, it took them just around half and hour to mobilize those robots, _and_ attack the cities! The more we wait, the more risk we run." Amy raised her hands in defeat,

"Fine, fine, since we have no choice."

Amy grunted as she helped Tails haul Sonic up the pile of rocks that led to the newly-descended Floating Island.

_'Sonic certainly weighs a ton' _she thought slowly. She heard Rouge up ahead,

"It's open guys!" Thank god for that, now _perhaps_ the bat could lend a hand?

Despite Rouge's leniency to help, they finally got Sonic into the cavern that led to the Floating Island. Holding the blue hedgehog tightly as they prepared to jump onto the strong air current that would carry them to the next level of the cave, it struck Amy that for years she had been wanting to be this close to Sonic, and yet, under present circumstances, she'd much rather she wasn't.

Finally, after perhaps a quarter of an hour of strenuous effort, they arrived at the end of the cave, before them, resplendent in the mid-day sun, they could see the Master Emerald shrine, once under the protection of their friend-turned-enemy. For a second, Amy could have sworn she saw two figures standing on the pinnacle of the shrine. She shook her head, and darkness descended on her.

For a moment, Amy felt as though someone was trying to pull her stomach out of her throat, she fell to the floor, her eyes closed. When the sudden pain had ebbed she got up and opened her eyes.

It was night. Tails, Rouge and Sonic were nowhere to be seen. The moon lit up the Master Emerald shrine, upon which now stood the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds, glowing with their mysterious inner light.

_'What's happened? Where is everyone?'_ she though desperately. The moment she had thought this, she felt the pain again, for a much shorter time. She was now standing next to the Master Emerald, and she wasn't alone.

One of the people she recognised, it was the echidna who had shown herself to to Amy and the others when Dr. Eggman had woken that monster Chaos; Tikal she believed her name had been. The other was a man, short blond hair, a very attractive face, tall and wiry. They were having a conversation, Tikal spoke softly,

"Well Yanric, is all going to plan?"

_Yanric!? _Tikal had been a echidnan princess at the apex of the echidnan empire, that had been hundreds of years ago! How could this man be the grizzled and cruel Yanric they had met, and seen die, in the temple!? The man...Yanric, spoke, his voice was definitely the same as the enemy they had met,

"It's all good Tikal. I just hope it works." Tikal smiled at him sadly,

"Part of me hopes it doesn't, if it means you'll die." Yanric shared her saddening smile,

"It's a sacrifice I have to make, the prophecy stated it, and _I _ personally don't want the world to end." Tikal stroked his hair slowly,

"The worst is that you'll always be remembered as a cruel traitor." Yanric gave a short bark of laughter,

"Don't worry about that, it was bound to happen. At any rate I won't be rembembered as badly as bad as Iv..." he was suddenly interrupted by a young dark green echidna who burst into the scene,

"Tikal! Tikal! Pachacamac wants to see you! Quickly!" the echidna noticed Yanric, and frowned,

"What's he doing here?" he questioned Tikal. Tikal looked coolly at the echidna,

"I _invited_ him. If you think my father's foolish laws should be _obeyed_, then you've gone further into _his_ madness Copan." she gave Yanric a gentle kiss, and left for the city, followed by the echidna, Copan, who gave a Yanric a glare, and kindly muttered 'get lost if you want to live'.

Darkness descended onto Amy again, a thick veil of blackness over her eyes. She felt that pain, as though her stomach was desperately trying to escape through her throat. And the next thing she knew, she was standing at the exit of the cave, it was noon again, Sonic lay by her side, unconscious, and Tails and Rouge were looking worried, straight ahead,

"What's ha..." she begun, but she stopped mid-sentence. She could see what the problem was, the green robot, of that group of robots they had met in the echidna pyramid stood before them, blades glinting menacingly in the bright sunlight,

"**The organics must die"**

* * *

And the plot thickens again! Please R&R!


	12. Awakening

revan blackheart -Tikails? There's a pairing I've never considered, it'd be pretty interesting to see. ^^

Bourne Rogue -Thanks! ^^

DarkspineSilver92 - Espio and Rouge have always seemed perfect for each other in my opinion. ^^

* * *

**Awakening**

Sonic was floating in a sea of darkness, but he didn't care, the constant agony was all that mattered, all that existed. Since his conversation with Eggman, whether he _had_ talked with the _real_ Doctor or not, there had been nothing but pain. It ebbed for a while, but in his heart of hearts Sonic knew it would return eventually. When the agony did not immediately restart moments after, as he had half expected it to, he slowly uncurled himself, and dizzily got up.

He took stock of his surroundings, nothing but that black void that dominated this mysterious place. He felt loneliness and even anger sweep over him, he missed his friends, and had had more than enough of this void. Something suddenly made him turn round, a point of light! Like the one that had appeared before his meeting with Robotnik. Only this time it didn't grow. There was a shimmer of light, and beneath him stood, or rather, floated, a solid track, a straight road to the light,

_'How messed up is this place?' _the hedgehog thought angrily, but he knew what he had to do now. He needed to get to the light, to reach the light in the void.

Sonic began jogging, warming up, he moved onto a run, and then a sprint. The exhilaration was pure ecstasy! The path blurred into a single grey line beneath him, the tiny dot of light started growing. He sprinted faster, faster than he though he ever had. Pain racked his body as the periodic agony began its onslaught, but he ignored it. Lost in the run, he focused on that single point of brightness, ignoring the pure agony that pervaded his very soul. The pain grew, multiplying, every atom in his body ached, he _needed _to stop, but he knew that if he stopped, then he lost his chance to escape this eternal void he seemed to have been imprisoned in. The pain grew too much, he started to slow, then, without warning, the agony stopped. Sonic took a moment to take a look at his arms, suddenly remembering the Master Emerald shards that were embedded into his very body, and gave a yelp of surprise.

_He was on fire!_

But it wasn't fire, he felt nothing, nothing but the exhilaration of the race, not only that, but it was green, tinged with a slight blue-ish outline.

_'Chaos energy?' _yes, it could only be that. He had never felt such power, he felt as though he could do _anything_. He shifted his attention back to the point of light, except that it wasn't a point of light any more; it was a huge, blinding gate of brightness that now stood over him. He hesitated for a moment, and he could have sworn that, for a second, he heard Eggman's voice, whispering,

"_Go in, go through."_ Deciding, he had nothing to lose, and perhaps everything to gain, Sonic stepped through, and suddenly, there was sunlight.

---

The green robot stood impassively as it surveyed Tails, Amy, Rouge and the unconscious Sonic. Then, it spoke, in its hissing voice,

**"The organics must die"**

Amy stood stared the robot down silently, her hand inching down towards her Piko-Piko Hammer,

"And why," she said slowly, "Must we do that?" The green robot turned its head with a creaking of gears,

**"Orders must be obeyed. The organics must die." ** To Amy's surprise, there was a sudden sigh from beside her. Sonic was awake! The blue hedgehog grinned inanely at the robot,

"Try your luck, tin-can." he said cockily. The robot creaked and watched him for a few moments, then spoke, not to them, but to itself,

**"Blue hedgehog awake. Requesting mission update." **there was a few moments of silence, and then the robot nodded to no one in particular,

**"Understood."** and then it flew towards Sonic, its lethal arm-blades extended before it.

Sonic pushed Amy out of the way, before jumping up, and landing neatly on the robot's shoulders,

"Up here," he grinned. The robot swung its arm-blade in a wide arc above its head in vain, as Sonic jumped back down. The robot started towards the hedgehog, and was knocked down onto its front. Amy, wielding her fearsome Hammer, stood behind it. She flashed Sonic a joyous smile, and proceeded to smash the robots into nuts and bolts. Sonic stood impressed, and indeed, slightly worried, before her exceedingly combative spirit.

Satisfied the robot was nothing more than scrap metal, Amy threw her Piko-Piko Hammer down, charging into Sonic and hugging him fiercely,

"Sonic! You're _awake_! I was _so_ worried that you were gonna die like Espio and that..." Sonic pushed her back,

"Whoa, whoa! Amy, wait a moment, firstly; Espio's dead!?" Rouge cut in, decidedly morose, she explained all that had happened since Sonic's disappearance. Sonic looked at her disbelievingly,

"You mean both Mighty _and_ Red betrayed us? And Espio's dead!?" Rouge nodded sadly, "Sonic shook his head, "Nah, this is some joke isn't it?"

Rouge's eyes flashed,

"Joke!? Joke!? Espio's dead!! Mighty and Knuckles have joined the enemy! And you call this a JOKE!?" she prowled away, breathing heavily with anger. Tails coughed slightly,

"Don't mind her, I think her and Espio were, much _closer_ than we thought," he whispered, before raising his voice, "So what happened to you, Sonic?" Sonic explained to them everything, his kidnapping, the corridor, the void, the voice, the emerald shards, Eggman, Belial. Tails looked quizzical,

"Belial, think it's the same Yanric mentioned?" Amy, in a decidedly happier mood since Sonic had woken, gave him a friendly rap of the head,

"Obviously genius, Belial isn't a very common name, or a very nice one come to that." she stopped, suddenly remembering something, "That reminds me! When we had just reached the exit of the cave..." she told them of the vision she had had, of Tikal and Yanric and their mysterious prophecy. Once again, Tails looked pensive,

"Yanric tried saying a word before he died, sounded like 'proph'. 'Proph' like 'prophecy' maybe?" Sonic scratched his head,

"So you think he was trying to tell you he's actually centuries old?"

Tails rubbed his head, saying,

"I don't know, I really don't know. This is just _too complicated!_" Rouge chose that moment to stalk back over to them,

"We should be going, the more time we waste, the more time we give _them_ to get stronger." she said, almost grunting the words out. Sonic rolled his eyes,

"Nice to see you too Rouge." he muttered once the bat was out of earshot. He stretched his arms, "Anyway, I have a few questions I'd like to ask Red."

---

Red Mountain, following Dr. Eggman's defeat when he had woken Chaos, and especially following his death, was a much safer place than it had been. Where there had been flaming vents, there were nothing but noticeable holes leading down to the darkness of the mountain, no badniks remained, and the series of springs had been replaced with solid bridges. It was, as Sonic put it, 'way past boring'. By evening, they had arrived at the other side, with the desert stretching on as far as the eye could see. Amy stretched her arms tiredly,

"Well," she said, "we'd better get going, the sooner we go, the sooner we arrive." and with that, they launched themselves into the desert, the last dying rays of sunlight barely stretching over the desolate sands.

---

And if any of them had chosen that moment to look round, they would have noticed a figure standing on a ledge overlooking the group. Grinning insanely, Mighty reached for his communicator,

"Mighty here, they're moving towards the desert, _as you predicated._" a voice crackled back, indistinguishable with the heavy interference, though it could clearly be heard,

"Understood. Keep following them, and once they arrive," Mighty's smile grew by a few teeth, _"Kill them."_

* * *

Who is that mysterious voice? Will Mighty really kill them? What is the prophecy? Find out in the next chapters. ^^ As always, please R&R!


	13. Desolate Sands

revan blackheart - Yay confusion! ^^

* * *

**Desolate Sands**

The sun beat down mercilessly on the group as they dragged their dehydrated bodies over _yet another_ dune of sand. No one spoke, their throats too dry, their tongues feeling much like sandpaper against their mouths. Each of them sullenly strode over the wall of sand, expecting to see yet another eternal stretch of desert, each of them all thinking the same thoughts; _what had possessed them to make their way into the desert without water?_ But their weary eyes weren't treated to the desert plains, instead, a shimmering, almost divine, oasis lay, practically waiting for them. Still without muttering a word they sprinted for it, drinking it's azure clear, and, most importantly, _quenching_, waters.

Sonic lapped up the refreshing water fervently, his long period unconscious and, most of all, the hike through the desert had left him with a '_slight'_ thirst. As he drank up the almost godly fluid he felt a slight feeling, like that of pins and needles, rising from his feet. Peering down into the waters, he noticed that the oasis seemed to be strangely deep, and that something was glowing green down in the depths of the oasis. He motioned to the others,

"Hey, dudes and dudettes, check this out, there something down here."

Reluctantly abandoning their drinking, the rest of the group approached. Rouge shrugged, uninterestedly muttering,

"It's probably just a reflection, or an optical illusion. We're wasting time."

Tails shook his head,

"There's no way that's a reflection. I mean, _it's glowing_, reflections don't glow." he said slowly.

Rouge harrumphed, exasperated,

"Well '_Mr._ _Genius'_, why don't you go down and check since you're _so sure._"

Tails gave her a glare, he had had more than enough of Rouge's apathetic and yet aggressive behaviour. Giving a shrug, he muttered that he would do just that, and the two-tailed fox plunged into the cool depths of the oasis.

There was a sudden rush of coolness as Tails dived into the oasis. It was ironic that he had been so hot above the pool, that he had wanted nothing better than to be cold, and now under the pool he was freezing, and wanted nothing better than to be warm. He made his way towards the source of the glow, which illuminated the clear waters like a lighthouse. As he approached it, he noticed the water was growing steadily darker, steadily colder, and steadily murkier. Soon the kitsune couldn't see a foot before him, and he had no doubt his friends above couldn't see him either. The green light still pierced the foggy water, as though it simply wasn't there.

Then, with the suddenness of someone flicking a switch, the murky water gave way back to the clarity of before. He felt his lungs begin to strain, he needed to find the source and get back to the surface quickly.

And there it was, a Chaos Emerald, shining with an almost eerie leaf-green light.

Tails swiped the emerald, and pushed back up to the surface, his lungs feeling as though they would burst. He swam past the foggy barrier that surrounded the bubble of clear water, up to the surface.

Gasping ferociously, Tails broke the oasis surface. As he clambered to the shallow part of the amazingly deep watering-hole Sonic rushed towards him,

"Tails my man, did you get it?" he asked.

Tails opened his palm, showing the Chaos Emerald. Sonic scratched his head quizzically,

"A Chaos Emerald? That makes no sense. I though Knux had them safe on Angel Island?"

Amy, having moved closer to see what Tails was holding, shook her head,

"Apparently not." she said simply.

Rouge moved up behind them, muttering,

"He's joined the _enemy_ if you remember. Now that we're done here, can we go?"

Amy sighed, taking the emerald from Tails. There was a flash of bright, very light blue, almost white, light. A sudden fierce wind whipped around them, Amy dropped the emerald, holding her dress. There was a second flash, and the ground began shaking heavily.

From the oasis a statue, depicting a cheerful looking Chao rose, followed by what appeared to be the entrance to some underground tunnel. Mural adorned the sides of the rectangular ruin. Rouge sighed deeply,

"Great, more echidna ruins."she muttered almost angrily.

Sonic flashed the group a cheery smile,

"Think this is what Yanric was talking about?" he asked Tails.

Tails shrugged,

"I don't know, we should perhaps check."

Before he had even finished his sentence, Sonic had already entered the ruin. The group silently followed.

There was a long straight staircase, leading down into the depths of whatever lay beneath the oasis. Finally, after ten or so minutes, the tunnel ended, leading into a large chamber. There was a large platform, surrounded by a pristine pool of water, and, strangely, plants. Chao were swarming around the place. Sonic was sitting on the platform, a Chao perched on his head,

"What took you guys so long?" he grinned.

Amy stepped into the chamber, it was inconceivable that such as place could exist. How could the Chao have survived underground for what could, must've been centuries? There was no sunlight, only bright torches set in niches along the walls. How did the plants grow? How had the torches managed to burn for so long?

As she pondered this, Amy noticed the chamber seemed to be getting darker. If the others noticed, they didn't show it. She opened her mouth to ask what was happening, and total darkness fell, at once, her stomach gave way to agony, she felt like throwing up, she could have sworn her intestines were trying to escape out her mouth.

And then it stopped.

Like a blindfold, being taken off, the blackness was lifted. She was still in the chamber, but the plants seemed smaller, the atmosphere seemed...less tense. And Tikal and Yanric were also there, playing with the Chao, seated on the same platform Sonic had been sat on a few seconds ago. She realized she must be having one of those strange flashbacks, like the one she had had back before they had gone over Red Mountain.

She watched Tikal and Yanric playing with the Chao, thinking of how strange it was to see the man who would later end be cruel and sadistic...but wasn't that what he and Tikal had planned? Amy was confused, and she had little doubt that it would get worse.

And she was right.

The pink hedgehog heard someone else stride into the chamber, and almost fell over as she saw who it was.

_Dr. Robotnik, Eggman, was here!_

Her first reaction was to find somewhere to hide, but as she backed off, she realized she was little more than a ghost here, Eggman couldn't see her any more than Tikal or Yanric could. She looked more closely at the Doctor, unlike Yanric, he didn't seemed younger, the moustache was perhaps a _bit_ shorter, the face _maybe _a_ tad_ smoother, but all in all, he looked much like he did, or rather, would.

Yanric and Tikal noticed Robotnik's arrival. Smiling softly, Yanric waved to the future dictator,

"Ivo! Good to see you again. What brings you here?"

Ivo Robotnik grimaced,

"No good news I'm afraid." he sat down besides the two, "Copan is petitioning Pachacamac to marry you, Tikal. The old chief has once again threatened to kill you, Yanric, if he sees you with Tikal again."

Tikal sighed softly and sadly,

"We must be strong, the prophecy is unfolding, everything is in motion." Eggman glanced at her,

"That's all very well for you, but I'd rather not spend my life being beaten by some idiot rodent, and then crushed beneath my own robot!"

Yanric turned to face Robotnik,

"Don't be _too_ egoistical Ivo. Don't forget I have to spend_ my life_ being pragmatically cruel, only to be betrayed and killed." he said sharply.

"Don't start fighting you two! There's no way to avoid this, you _both_ know that. Prophecy is prophecy. I don't like my part either, but if it helps save the planet, then I'll go with it." Tikal interjected, her hands on her hips, looking much like a stern mother.

Dr. Robotnik stood up, leaving without saying another word. A Chao floated down onto Tikal's head, smiling inanely. A veil of darkness covered the room once more, leaving Amy in blackness. Her stomach squirmed, trying to push itself up her throat, but she was too busy wondering what all this _meant _to notice.

The obscurity lifted, she was back in the present, everyone was looking at her, she opened her mouth to talk, then shut it. They weren't looking _at_ her, they were looking _past_ her. She spun round.

Grinning insanely, Mighty stood there, flanked by the faceless red robot and a feral-looking Knuckles.

* * *

Egads! More fighting, more confusion! As always, please R&R, criticize all you want, if it's rationalized. Seriously people, if there's something you don't like, tell me so I know what _not_ to do. ^^


	14. Ghost

revan blackheart - To quote myself- 'Yay confusion!'

* * *

**Ghost**

Mighty chuckled at the surprised look that covered the group's face,

"What? You though we wouldn't find you here, in the depths of the Sandopolis desert?" he showed them a transistor, pulled from seemingly nowhere, "We've been following you since you destroyed our _dear colleague_, that green robot."

The red robot besides the armadillo pushed past him,

**"You shall be exterminated as punishment for the deaths of Lamed and Mem."**

Sonic guffawed at this new revelation,

"Jeez, what lame names," the hedgehog gave a grin, "what's yours?"

The robot seemed surprised by this question, or as surprised as a faceless machine could look. Staring straight at Sonic, it almost hesitatingly replied,

**"My designation is Sameh."**

Sonic smirked, laughing silently,

"Pleased to meet ya, Sammy." The robot raised a metallic finger,

**"'Sam-**_**eh**_**', not 'Sam-my'."**

Mighty sighed deeply, muttering something about 'stupid AI's", before pushing past Sameh,

"All that is irrelevant. We've got orders to _kill_ you, orders from someone who _dearly_ wishes to see your obliteration."

Sonic rolled his eyes,

"Like I haven't heard that before." he linked his hands behind his head, "Anyway who..."

He never finish his sentence, for at that precise moment, a certain bat, half-mad with rage, flew past him.

Fists drawn back, Rouge propelled herself towards Mighty, a single thought running through her mind,

_You killed Espio! You killed him! You killed him! Youkilledhimyoukilledhimyoukilledhim!_

Her punches never landed, as Mighty dodged to the side, sending his own fist into the bat's gut. Breathing fiercely, tears of rage flowing from her eyes, Rouge hit the floor hard, careering into patch of shrubbery.

Sonic gasped audibly,

"Rouge!" he cried, moving forward towards the spot she had flown into, but Sameh was faster. Blocking the hedgehog's path, it swung its hard metallic arm out, catching the hero straight on the side of the face, sending him - in turn - flying towards the woodlands that circled the chamber.

In response, Tails and Amy moved in, intercepted by Sameh, Rouge having, by this time, gotten back up, attack Mighty once more, and Sonic, barely a second after crashing into the shrubbery, jumped back up as Knuckles began to madly try and squash the 'hog. The Chao, crying loudly in fright, all ran for it, taking refuge in the relative safety of the plant cover.

Sonic, almost dancing between Knuckles' blows, grinned at the echidna,

"Seriously," he said, in a serious voice that negated his grin, "I mean, I can understand Mighty over there joining Robuttnik, but what's your excuse Rad Red?"

Knuckles harrumphed, grunting out an almost inaudible reply,

"My excuses don't concern you." he landed a blow to Sonic's side, sending the blue hedgehog sprawling onto the floor, "Now be a good pest and die."

Sonic shook his head,

"You're really not joking, are you?" he rolled back as Knuckles aimed another punch at him, jumping back up, and the two began their dodge and lunge dance again.

* * *

Sameh was not in the best of the various moods that had been programmed into him. For one thing, the two rodents, the kitsune and pink hedgehog, was proving notoriously hard to kill. Despite his far superior strength, he was constantly being distracted by the fox, only to suddenly fall forward as the hedgehog struck him with her deadly mallet. If the robot could feel stress, he was sure he'd be feeling it. But stress was not a mood he'd been programmed with, so he had to content himself with a slight rage.

He let the robotic anger drive him, lunging more and more, faster and faster, until finally, he sent the troublesome fox sprawling onto the dais, a bloody cut marking the place where Sameh had struck. Satisfied, the robot turned round to deal with the second threat, and met the hammer once more. Weakened by the previous blows, the Piko-Piko hammer smashed through his body, like hammer through paper or a hot knife through butter.

Almost sliced in two, Sameh crashed onto the dais, its now lifeless robotic face, or rather, faceless head, seeming to stare right at Tails, who was rubbing his sore wound.

* * *

Rouge was barely aware of the sounds of battle going around her, she was dimly aware of two blurs of red and blue- Sonic and Knuckles- fighting, she was almost aware of Sameh's torturous battle with Amy and Tails, but she didn't care about them, her sole focus was the armadillo before her.

_You killed Espio! You killed him! You killed him! Youkilledhimyoukilledhimyoukilledhim!_

Taunting her, Mighty raised his hands, beckoning her to him. With a cry of pure rage, she did so, launching herself towards the offending armadillo, using her wings to propel her, fists at the ready. Mighty met her, easily blocking her punches, and delivering a kick to her already pained gut, sending her flying once more. He laughed snidely,

"Is that all you have?"

Rouge said nothing, pushing herself up, and throwing herself at him once again. This time she managed to deliver a elbow to his temple, but it wasn't nearly strong enough to inconvenience the armoured armadillo, who seemed to only have exponentially grown in strength during these past few days- while she had lost everything. The very thought made her angrier still, she launched two more punched at Mighty, but he simply caught her arms, his face right before hers, his eyes shining with more malice than she had ever thought would have been possible from the armadillo. He grinned savagely,

"Seems like you're angry about something, Rouge. Could it be anything to do with a certain _chameleon?_"

Rouge gave a bellow of fury, but Mighty simply sent another kick her way, sending her down to the floor again.

_You killed Espio! You killed him! You killed him! Youkilledhimyoukilledhimyoukilledhim!_

The bat writhed on the floor for a moment, before she pushed herself back up again, but Mighty had been quicker, and he delivered a kick to her ribs. She roared once more, but this time in pain.

That was when the crackling started. Like leaves in a fire, the chamber was filled with a loud constant crackle, with an underlying drone. A voice seemed to whisper through the stone ruins,

_**'Pathetic...'**_

There was a rumble, the floor shook for the barest hint of a second, and a doorway revealed itself in the chamber wall, opposite the entrance.

Mighty, clearly surprised, spun round and stared at it for a moment, Knuckles on the other hand, breaking off the fight with Sonic, beckoned to the armadillo, and unhesitatingly ran in, followed by the armadillo.

There was another spout of silence, and Amy came up to Rouge, giving the bat a hand up,

"How is it?" she asked sombrely. Rouge, nursing her side, simply shook her head,

"Lets get going, we're letting them get away." she muttered, followed the echidna and armadillo into the new entrance. Amy glanced at Sonic, who shrugged and followed Rouge.

There was a short corridor, maybe only five metres or so, and then another large chamber, this time with no dais or plants, though it did have a balcony. Knuckles and Mighty stood beneath the balcony, head craned up, a look of sheer surprise plastered on Mighty, but not Knuckles' face. Sonic looked up, and saw why.

Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik stood on the mezzanine, with his trademark insane grin. On seeing the hedgehog, he gave a wave,

"Sonic, how nice to see you, its been _much_ too long."

* * *

The Doctor is back!


	15. The Eggman

revan blackheart - Maybe, maybe not, wait and see.

petite-dreamer - Read on, this chapter basically explains most of everything that's been happening. ^^

* * *

**The Eggman**

Dr Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik laughed as he saw the shocked and incredulous expressions that suddenly covered the entire group's faces, including Mighty's and Knuckles'. The scientist stood calmly on the mezzanine, leaning gently against the balustrade, his trademark insane grin plastered on his face,

"Well, hedgehog? Happy to see me again?"

Sonic shook his head as though trying to wake himself from a nightmare something,

"B...but how? I saw you dead! Dead!" the hedgehog managed to stutter despite his utmost surprise.

Eggman laughed deeply and heavily,

"Dead? My dear rodent, what you saw was nothing but a clone, the result of more than a millennia of research and preparation. My very exi..."

The Doctor was suddenly interrupted by Amy, who was looking marginally less surprised and confused than the rest, and looked very irritated,

"I know exactly what happened!" she told Robotnik, frowning angrily, "You faked your death with a clone, making sure it would be killed by a falling robot, in order to escape the prophecy!"

This time it was Eggman's turn to looked shocked and surprised,

"How...how did you know?" he stammered.

Tails folded his arms crossly, interrupting the conversation,

"It doesn't matter at the moment, the question is; what do you want, Eggman?"

The Doctor nodded,

"You're right, there are greater happenings at hand. All my plans are coming to full, sweet fruition," he clapped his hands joyfully, "Mighty, Knuckles! Join me up here, my good allies."

The mentioned two nodded, all traces of surprise wiped off their faces. Grabbing hold of the ledge just beneath the balcony, they launched themselves up, landing to a halt besides Eggman. The Doctor gave the group below an inane wave, before turning round on his heel.

"Wait! Eggman!" Sonic suddenly moved forwards, calling up to Robotnik, "I need to know a few things first."

Eggman gave an almost comical sigh, turning round once more,

"Very well, hedgehog, what do you want to know?"

Sonic scratched his head for a moment,

"Were you there with me in the void?"

Eggman frowned,

"What are you talking about?" he snorted.

Sonic sighed,

"Secondly, you said your clone was the result of a millennia of research, how could you have lived that long?"

Amy interrupted here,

"He definitely has, that's for sure."

Eggman gave a mysterious, wan smile,

"A good magician, never reveals his tricks."

Sonic rolled his eyes,

"One last thing then, 'Dr. Magician'; what did you do to Red?"

Eggman suddenly grinned,

"Knuckles? Yes, that was one of my cunning plans so far." he struck a pose, "It's very simply, Sonic. The last time I stole the Master Emerald, I used my vast knowledge to corrupt it, burying all the positive Chaos energy deep inside the emerald. Since Knuckles is a Guardian, he has an inherent link with the Master Emerald, when_ it_ was corrupted, _he_ was slowly corrupted. Genius, no?"

Sonic snorted mockingly,

"Yeah, pure genius. That was all I needed to know, thanks 'Buttnik."

Eggman muttered something about 'childish insults' and spun round again. But Sonic wasn't about to let him get away. Propelling himself up, the hedgehog armed drew back a fist towards the Doctor, however, Knuckles, reacting almost insanely fast, grabbed the offending arm, and threw Sonic back down, where he landed hard on the cold stone floor. Seeing this, Amy, armed with her Piko-Piko hammer, threw herself onto Knuckles, swinging the deadly weapon.

Knuckles, once again reacting amazingly quickly, ducked under the hammer, and landed a punch onto Amy's gut. There was a distinct humming, and then a shockwave of green light. Both Amy and Knuckles were thrown backwards, smacking into the chamber walls. Eggman harrumphed,

"Enough foolishness. Knuckles! Get up here! We've _wasted_ enough time, and I want to get to work on the final part of my plan _at once_."

The echidna in question nodded slowly, but there was something different about his eyes, less feral, perhaps? Propelling himself onto the mezzanine, Knuckles came up behind Eggman,

"Good," said the Doctor, satisfied, "Now_ let's go_."

Knuckles nodded again, and, unnoticed by Robotnik, drew back a fist. Mighty, standing besides him, noticed though, letting loose an angry cry and whipping his arm round against Knuckles temple. The echidna, surprised, fell back, falling off the balcony. He managed to find his bearings though, landing roughly on all fours.

Dr. Eggman frowned deeply, then comprehension dawned on his face,

"Of course!" he said, snapping his fingers as though he had missed something extremely obvious, "Amy destroyed the Master Emerald, didn't she?" Mighty nodded, "So she absorb the energy that was left in the emerald, but since Knuckles had absorbed all the negative Chaos energy, she was unconsciously given all the positive Chaos energy." he slammed his hands together, "Then, when they touched, the Chaos energy merged, balancing the energy out." He looked at the two in question, "So the two of you, when together, are basically a walking, talking, Master Emerald." He looked at the echidna with an almost sincerely sad expression, "Oh well. Seems like you've rejoined the losing team again, rodent. Let's hope you don't _live_ to regret it."

With a last look at the group assembled below, he motioned to Mighty to follow him. He pressed a concealed button, and a door slid open in the apparently smooth chamber wall, a corridor, much more modern looking than the rest of the echidnan ruins, could be seen leading to somewhere unknown. The two entered in, and Dr. Robotnik turned round once more,

"Goodbye, my good _friends. _I'm almost sorry it has to end like this." he pressed another button. The other chamber exit slid shut, a huge stone door blocking it, and a shimmering forcefield appeared across the exit the Doctor had just taken. He grinned, pressed another button, and a deep rumble filled the ruin, then he turned and left, followed the Mighty.

The heroes looked round, wondering what new trickery Eggman had devised. The shaking got worse and worse, until cracks started appearing in the very walls. Amy gave an audible gasp,

"He's collapsing the ruin!!"

* * *

And yet another life-threatening situation for our heroes. ^^ Please R&R everyone!


	16. Void

revan blackheart - Read on and see. ^^

Master Metallix - Some good points, which I've addressed in this chapter, and thanks for the compliments! ^^

* * *

**Void**

"He's collapsing the ruin!!"

Small stones began to fall from the ceiling as the very ruin that had defied centuries of erosion under the desert sands began to fall apart. Sonic took no time to hesitate, sprinting up to the passageway, which was now blocked by a shimmering forcefield, and trying to push it open. It was useless though, and he soon stopped,

"No use. There's no way out!"

Like a foreboding ghost, an ethereal voice whispered through the ruin, somehow making itself heard over the deep rumbling.

_Master Emerald..._

Knuckles and Amy glanced at each other, and suddenly they understood. They moved up to the shield, and placed both their hands on it, a glow engulfed them, and the forcefield dissipated. Sonic whistled,

"How'd you do that?"

Amy gave the hedgehog a winning smile,

"Together, we're a living Master Emerald, remember." she said.

Rouge pushed past them,

"No time to explain every little detail guys, lets go!"

Amy protested, looking back at the chamber, watching as huge blocks of stones began to fall,

"The Chao! We can't leave the poor things to die!" She began to turn back, but, as though anticipating her movements, a huge block detached itself from the ceiling, landing with a loud crash right before her, blocking all entrance to the chamber. Tails took her hand, saying,

"Come on Amy, we can't stay here, this place is gonna fall at any moment."

They all retreated into the corridor, watching as the temple gave itself to its fate. After a while the rumbling died down. Knuckles stretched his arms,

"Well, we're not getting out that way." he commented. Rouge gave a harrumph, starting down the corridor. The place was clearly not of Echidnan origin; glistening clinical white tiles paved the walls, ceiling and floor, giving them the impression they were standing in a _very_ clean hospital hallway. Shrugging, Sonic followed, and the other followed him.

They went in silence through the seemingly endless hallway. As far as they could tell, the corridor simply continued straight ahead forever. After a while of heavy silence, Sonic cleared his throat,

"Hey Red?" he asked Knuckles, grinning slightly, "What was it like being 'Buttnik's lapdog?"

Knuckles exhaled deeply, clearly irritated,

"I wasn't his _lapdog_, Sonic."

This time it was Tails' turn to ask a question,

"What do you mean, do you remember any of it?"

Knuckles harrumphed,

"Of course I remember it; I remember getting more and more easily angered ("As if that's possible" muttered Sonic.") and next thing I know I just can't help but do whatever Eggman's telling me to."

Amy nodded emphatically,

"Yeah I remember, you did seem to be more irritated than usual recently. Of course, I simply thought that was something to do with being stuck on an island on your own for your entire life; it'd _certainly_ drive _me_ insane."

Knuckles gave her an irritated glare, Rouge, who had been ahead, interrupted,

"Sorry to stop your interesting conversation, but we have more important things to think about." the bat pointed ahead. They had come to a crossroads, the corridor split off into two separate branches. Sonic sighed,

"Don't worry, I know exactly which way to go." he scratched his head for a moment, before shrugging, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe_._" Rouge gave a loud exasperated sigh, "Ok, ok." muttered Sonic, "We'll go left."

Muttering something about impatient bats, the hedgehog moved down the left corridor, and no sooner had he entered it that a large metal door slid down, blocking the hallway and separating Sonic from the rest of the group.

In a flash, Amy whipped out her Piko-Piko Hammer, bashing at the door, but it was in vain. Whatever the door was made of, it withstood her assault without barely a dent. Tails pried her away from her attack,

"Amy. Amy! It's useless, we should go the other way!"

With one last look at the blocked hallway, Amy nodded, and the group continued along the corridor.

They lost track of time in the winding, featureless hallways. After that first crossroads there were no more, not even a nick in the walls, a scrape of mud on the floors.

It was disgustingly clinical.

After what seemed like hours but could've been minutes they arrived at another door, and this time, it slid opened with a foreboding silence.

Ahead, sitting in a large chair, surrounded by electronic monitors, keyboards, every possible machinery, sat Eggman, upon seeing them he gave them a cheery wave,

"Ah, there you are! So _happy_ you could come." he pressed a button on one of the consoles, "Why don't you come in from the hallway."

On cue, the remaining robots, the blue and yellow ones, that had attacked them in the Mystic Ruins, oh so long ago, came up behind the group, ushering them into the control centre. Eggman, now with Mighty standing beside him, beckoned them closer, "I want you to see my _ultimate triumph_. I want you to see why you've survived this far."

Curious but cautious, the group advanced, painfully aware of the robots that stood behind them, staring impassively but menacingly at them.

There, encased in a glass capsule, lay Sonic, unconscious, rigged up to some strange machine. Amy gave an audible gasp. Eggman chuckled deeply,

"Behold the _true_ Chaos Computer."

Tails shook his head vehemently,

"We destroyed the Chaos Computer back in the Mystic Ruins!"

Robotnik's chuckling grew louder,

"_Or so you thought. _You see, Yanric and Tikal had it all planned, the Chaos Computer's destruction, my death, everything, all to prevent the second prophecy. But I knew it too. And so I made sure to change a few things. When Sonic was captured, Yanric had shards from the very_ heart_ of the Master Emerald embedded into the _dear_ hedgehog's bloodstream. That's why Amy never knew she had absorbed the positive energy of the emerald, because the energy had been split into _three_, not _two_ parts. Knuckles had the negative energy, she had the positive energy, and Sonic had the _pure_ Chaos energy, so none of them could control or use the Chaos energy, because it had lost its...how to explain this to an amateur? Its...'Chaosness'." the Doctor's manic smile grew by a few teeth, "But now, with the help of my machine, and, of course, Sonic's position as a _pure untapped source of Chaos energy_ I can finally achieve my century long aims."

Amy pushed past Tails,

"Then why did you try to kill Sonic? If he'd died, you would've lost your 'pure untapped source of Chaos energy'." she demanded. Eggman sighed,

"Must I explain _everything?_ Sonic wouldn't have died, he's a pure embodiment of Chaos energy,he's practically the power of the universe stuffed into one small rodent." the Doctor waved a hand to silence any more forthcoming questions, "Enough! Now to show you what we're all here for. What I've dedicated centuries of my life to."

Robotnik spun his chair round, facing Sonic in his glass tube. He pressed a few buttons, before pulling an ominous lever. Green lightning crackled around the unconscious hedgehog. A bright green glow began to spread from Sonic's torso, enveloping the 'hog, growing in luminosity until it was so bright that the spectators had to shield their eyes. The glow lasted for a few seconds more before fading. When they uncovered their eyes they saw they were no longer in the clinical chamber of before, but floating in a black void of nothingness, with the floor and themselves being the only noticeable things there. Eggman gave a manic laugh,

"Welcome to the _'Chaos Void'_!" he cried ecstatically, "The fount of all the Chaos energy Sonic, and therefore, myself, controls. And, of course," there was an ear-splitting, guttural roar, "home of that _wonderful_ monster, Belial."

* * *

Belial's back! And we're nearing the climax of the story! Stay tuned, and don't forget to R&R! ^^


	17. Belial

petite-dreamer - Two Sonics...? *quickly writes down sudden ideas for another story*

Master Metallix - He's probably called the Doctor because he has a PhD in curing people of life, well, trying to cure them at any rate. ^^

* * *

**Belial**

The floor, suspended in the featureless, endless dark void, shook slightly as another roar, louder this time, was heard. Rouge gasped as the shaking grew worse, as though the monster, Belial, had grabbed the very room, or what was left of the room, and was shaking it. Dr. Eggman grinned maniacally, laughing,

"Don't worry. He can't break in, not as long as I have the very power of the universe countering his own power." the Doctor gave a discreet hand-signal to the robots behind the group, and they moved in, grabbing Amy and Knuckles, lowering gleaming, razor-sharp blades to their necks.

"Just to be sure you won't try anything." smirked Robotnik. Tails looked in alarm at the two hostages, and then Eggman,

"What are we doing here Robotnik? What is it you actually want!?" he cried, infuriated by the powerless and perilous situation they had all been thrust in. The mad doctor laughed, though the sound was lost as Belial gave another guttural roar, and the floor shook wildly again. When it had died down, Eggman smiled,

"My _dear_ Tails, to understand what I _want_, you need to understand over a millenia of history, two ancient Echidnan prophecies, and a millenia's worth of research." he chuckled.

Tails opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped as the floor gave a huge lurch, knocking almost everyone to the floor. Rouge gave a cry as the floor beneath her was dented, in the shape of some claw, or tooth.

"Eggman! I don't know what you want, but I suggest you get it done _quickly_! Before that thing manages to smash through here!" Knuckles roared, struggling against the yellow robot that held him tightly. The floor shook again, and a roar filled their ears. Eggman gave a nod, suddenly looking less confident than before. Still, maintaining a calm face, he strode over to his console desk, pressing a small green button that opened a compartment at the base. He fished something out, and held it proudly before him.

It was a Chaos Emerald. Grey. Powerless.

Robotnik gave a chuckle,

"You wanted to know what I'm doing? Well I'm going to absorb Belial into a Chaos Emerald."

Tails shook his head disbelievingly,

"That's not possible!" he cried, "You can't suck a living thing into a Chaos Emerald!"

Eggman threw his head back, laughing,

"You forget I can do _anything_, rodent. As long as I have the Chaos Computer, I'm practically a god!"

Rouge gave a sigh. She rubbed her arm before saying,

"So why don't you erase us all from reality, _'O Almighty One'._"

The Doctor laughed again,

"That wouldn't be very sporting, would it? Anyway, you forget the prophecies, they'd stop me."

The group tried to ask him some more questions, but Eggman shushed them, placing the Chaos Emerald into a special niche on the Chaos Computer's mainframe. He pressed a few buttons, and Sonic began glowing again.

Belial's roaring doubled in pitch, and the floor was almost turned onto its side.

It almost sounded as if the monster was wounded.

The dark void around them began to grow clear, and the Chaos Emerald began to grow darker, darker. After what must've only been minutes, the once pitch-black void was a light grey, verging on white, and the Chaos Emerald was totally black, looking much like an emerald-shaped hole in existence.

The roars had subsided, and the shaking stopped.

Eggman gave a manic laugh; he almost sounded relieved. Pressing a few more buttons, he transported them back into the base with a flash of green.

Looking at each of them in turn, the Doctor slapped his hands together joyously. Taking the Chaos Emerald, he smiled and said,

"Now, why don't you come and see what I've cooked up during my free time."

And with that, he strode into another room that stood opposite the entrance they had used. Silently, Mighty, beckoned to them and followed Eggman.

In the other room, or rather, chamber, was a robot. At least, it seemed to be a robot, they couldn't quite see all of it. They all stood in awe at the sight, Knuckles whistled,

"It must be, at least a thousand feet high..." he whispered.

Eggman smiled,

"Impressive, is it not?" he asked.

The machine was incomparably high, a humanoid shape that dwarfed them all. They were stood on a ramp, around half-way up the robot. There was a pathway leading to where its heart would be. Eggman took the pathway, melodramatically placing the Chaos Emerald into a niche in the robot, and sliding it shut.

Coming back, Eggman gave a chuckle at their incredulous faces,

"You can do a lot in a thousand years." he said quietly.

Amy, still stuck in the blue robot's grip, shook her head, as though trying to wake herself from a dream,

"But...but why did you suck Belial into that emerald, why did you put it into the heart?" she managed to stammer.

Eggman grinned,

"Let me explain all of this, before my moment of glory. Now, all Chaos Energy in this world comes from the Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald. All Chaos Energy inside the emeralds comes from the void we were just in. Now, in that other universe, that other plane of existence; where the void is found, Chaos Energy is impotent, useless, but their form of powerful energy; of which Belial is the source, like a Master Emerald; comes from our own universe, in which that form of energy is useless." he took a deep breath, "Soo, I have melded the two together, a Chaos Emerald and Belial, the two together give me control over the entirety of all existences, especially Mobius, since I now have control over every little bit of energy in this universe, and in this void universe."

Light seemed to dance in the Doctor's eyes, barely noticeable behind his glassed,

"In sum, I have control over every universe in existence. But since using that raw energy would be dangerous to myself, I fashioned this robot to be controller of those two energies, like the Chaos Computer controls all Chaos Energy." he grinned, "Confused? You should be."

He slid open a panel in the wall, where a big red button stood.

He pressed the button.

A huge rumble pervaded the chamber, and the floor began shaking. It was as though they were in that dark void again, being attacked by Belial. The robot moved slightly, then stopped.

An ear-splitting roar rent the air. The machine's heart exploded in a shower of metal and emerald shards.

Eggman stood disbelievingly, his mouth agape,

"Impossible... Impossible! No! This is _impossible_!!!" The blue robot that had been holding Amy was flung to the side like a vulgar rag-doll by some invisible force,

"_IMPOSSIBLE!_" roared Eggman, "Belial is free!"

Another roar filled the room and the yellow robot was thrown to the walls, exploding in a shower of sparks.

"He's free..." moaned Eggman, "He's free. We're doomed...we're all doomed..."

* * *

I like cliffhangers ^^' . Will they all die? Will Sonic stay stuck unconscious in a glass tube? Will Eggman finally go utterly insane? Find ou in the next chapter (or the one after that)! Oh, and don't forget to R&R! ^^


	18. Binding Prophecy

revan blackheart - Wishful thinking? -_-' Meh, anyway, read on to see! ^^

petite-dreamer - Well, insane-er, at any rate. ^^

Master Metallix - That's a lot of questions ^^, and I can't answer some of them, to not ruin the chapter. But I can answer that;

1) Belial is invisible, though I tend to imagine him as being your stereotypical demon, horns and flames, etc. He isn't based on Berial from Devil May Cry 4 (never played it)

2)The Chaos Emerald was smashed into lots of pieces, so I guess it is irreparably damaged.

3)Read the next chapter to see what happens to Eggman and friends/enemies. ^^

4)I'm sorry, *sniffs* but the Chao _are_ dead.

5)Mighty _does_ support Eggman, having been saved by the Doctor when he was a kid.

I hope that wraps everything up ^^, and now, onto the chapter!

* * *

**Binding Prophecy**

There was a huge guttural roar, and the chamber shook slightly. It was almost like they were back in the void. The heroes stood, their mouths agape as they watched the giant robot being torn to shreds without a visible cause.

Eggman shook his head violently, repeatedly muttering,

"No, _no._ It won't end like this."

He suddenly slapped his forehead, almost comically, as he suddenly remembered something important, something which he was surprised he had forgotten.

_Sonic, the Chaos Computer._

He sprinted as fast as possible from the chamber, soon followed by the others as Belial continued its rampage. The floor lurched, Eggman fell, and was dimly aware of a large piece of metal zooming overhead, inches from his scalp. He looked up, just in time to see the glass tube holding Sonic smash into a thousand pieces.

"_Oh my gears and starters..._" he murmured, watching as Sonic began to stir. No more Chaos Computer.

He got up, and breathed in heavily, calming himself. Belial would be busy with the robot for a few minutes more at least, and he now had a plan, or rather, _remembered_ the plan.

----------

Sonic stirred from another sleep. But this time, he had had no dreams, no visions of endless voids and phony Doctors, no nightmares of invisible demons...

The first thing he saw was Dr. Eggman. He didn't look too happy,

"Doc, what did you do?" he managed to whisper. His noticed his throat was very dry.

Robotnik pulled the hedgehog up, talking rapidly,

"Sonic, we haven't got time for niceties. There's a dangerous invisible monster on the loose, and if we don't lure it to the secondary command centre then we're all doomed. Your friends included!" he pointed towards the entrance to the chamber which had housed the robot.

Sonic grinned,

"You really expect me to believe..." a piece of shrapnel flew overhead, followed by a cry from Rouge as she escaped the collapsing chamber. Knuckles whipped round, facing the 'hog,

"Sonic, it's true, damn you! What do you think we're doing!? Rehearsing a play?" he roared, as yet another stray plate of metal crashed inside the room. Mighty slammed a button, and a door slid down, separating them from Belial. Tails breathed,

"That should keep him away a few minutes longer." he faced the Doctor, "What do you suggest we do, seeing as this is _your_ mess?"

Eggman looked as though he was about to say a retort, but drew back before nodding slowly,

"Belial feeds on Chaos Energy, the natural energy of the void. So he should logically go after Sonic, as he's a pure source of Chaos Energy." he paused for a moment, before adding, "But you two, Knuckles and Amy, should move as far away as possible, to make sure he chases Sonic."

Sonic interrupted, his zeal for adventure back,

"Whoa, whoa 'buttnik! Why do we want Belial chasing _me_!?"

Eggman sighed, as though he felt it useless to explain,

"I've got a second command chamber, where I prepared a trap for our good friend Belial, should he escape. But it's **a**) A mile away, _at least; _and **b) **Needs someone fast enough to outrun Belial; ergo, Sonic, you're the only one who can do this. With my help of course. "

The sounds from the adjoining chamber quietened, "We'd better leave at once. The rest of you should leave through the corridor, Mighty will show you how to get out."

The Doctor moved over to the control desk, pulling a lever, a hidden door silently slid open.

"That way, straight ahead. Come one hedgehog, we'd need to go just as Belial breaks free."

There was a loud pounding on the door. Sonic raised his hands,

"You're coming? But you'll slow me down...a hundred-fold!"

The door flew of its hinges, smashing into Mighty, crushing the armadillo underneath. In a flash, Robotnik was by his side,

"Mighty!" he cried, trying to shift the door.

The armadillo shook his plated head,

"Go, quickly, before Belial attacks!" he managed to whisper, before adding, "And _kill_ him for me."

He meant Sonic.

The aforementioned blue hedgehog moved towards them,

" 'buttnik! We need to go, grab on."

With a final, dejected look at his adopted son, Eggman took hold of Sonic, and the two disappeared in a flash of blue, followed by a deep roar and invisible footfalls.

----------

The already featureless corridor of metal blurred beneath Eggman's eyes. So this was how Sonic felt as he sped across the land? It was quite euphoric, he had to admit. But there were greater concerns for him to think about. His thoughts turned to Mighty, he hoped the armadillo was fine, he _prayed_ the armadillo was fine.

And then there was Belial.

He carefully craned his head round. There was nothing there, but he could hear those much-too-close guttural roars of rage and whatever the strange demon felt. He could hear the heavy, invisible footfalls of unseen feet. He briefly wondered what Belial actually _looked _like.

And then a part of the wall disappeared. A large, gaping slash in the walls, which didn't reveal the stone layer beneath, but only darkness...

_'Gadzooks! He's tearing holes in reality!' _the Doctor realized with a sudden despair. He silently willed Sonic to go faster. It was ironic, all he had done, all his millennia of planning rode on the back of that troublesome rodent.

And so did his own life.

They arrived, not soon enough, at the secondary command centre. It was marginally smaller than the previous one, and there was only one door, facing opposite them. Eggman quickly slammed shut the doorway they had passed through, and opened the second one,

"Let's go, we haven't got any time to waste." he muttered, his mind on other things.

It was another chamber, with a _second_ robot. Once again, much smaller than the first, but still a few hundred feet high, at least. Sonic whistled in awe,

"You really haven't been wasting your time Doctor." he said. Robotnik didn't close the door this time, and a sombre look covered his usually inanely grinning face,

"Right. You see that platform in the robot's midriff? Stand inside there, you'll trick Belial to move towards there, I'll activate this button here, and Belial will be sent back."

Sonic opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the door in the previous chamber suddenly being blown open. He raced onto the platform, and stood silently, sweat glazed on his forehead.

The invisible footfalls grew heavier, and louder, and _closer._ With a snarling roar something pushed past the Doctor, racing towards Sonic.

"Press it!! Press the damn button!" Sonic cried, backing up against the robot's sides, fear amking his voice quaver.

With another growl, Sonic was hoisted up into the air.

Eggman pushed _a_ button. The robot's torso slammed shut, trapping Sonic with Belial.

"Sorry Sonic," whispered Robotnik, sounding genuinely sorry, "but I made a promise to my son, and I intend to keep it."

He took one last look at the robot, seeing it sway slightly, hearing pained cries, and guttural roars, before the cries were suddenly cut off, replaced by a horrible fleshy sound.

He pressed the other button. There was a bright flash of light, and the noises stopped, the robot stopped swaying.

The Doctor slid down against the chamber wall, breathing heavily, a tear even forming on his face, his forehead running with sweat.

"_It's done. It's done. It's actually over."_ he murmured, again and again, _"That's two prophecies stopped. So much for destiny! Belial gone, Sonic gone..." _

The robot gave an ominous creak, the door sealed itself.

"_Eh?"_

With a disdainful silence, the robot tilted forwards,

"_no, No, NO!!" _roared Eggman. He raised his fist, as though defying the robot, _"Tikal! Yanric! This is your doing, isn't it!!? You dare to defy me now!? I've won! Your 'inescapable' prophecies are moot! I've survived despite your lies of all-binding prophecies!"_

The robot fell forwards, falling towards the Doctor,

"_You can't kill me! I am Ivo Robotnik!! You can't kill me! I AM IVO ROBOTNIK!"_

The robot fell with in a great cloud of noise. There was a quiet 'psch' sound somewhere amidst the crash, a huge explosion, and then nothing but a deathly silence.

* * *

Splat. Well, this was the final chapter before the epilogue which'll just explain what happened to the others. But still, don't forget to R&R ^^.


	19. Epilogue: Legacy

Master Metallix - Well, Sonic's stuck in the void, so no escape there (though if I ever make a sequel I'll probably have him escape somehow ^^) but Belial's probably ripped him to shreds by now anyway. :(

revan blackheart - The Tikails pairing? Still seems a pretty strange pairing, but it might just work with a bit of jiggerypokery. ^^

petite-dreamer - Holy dimensional void, Eggman! Here comes Belial! ^^

* * *

**Epilogue - Legacy**

The sand settled on the few stone blocks that lay haphazardly, already half-submerged in the desert. The echidnan temple had been pulverised, and Robotnik's lair doubly so. A small group could be observed near the ruins: an armadillo, a hedgehog, a bat, a fox, and a hedgehog. The latter furiously trying to dig the ruins out.

Amy hands were dirty, bruised, hurt, but she didn't care, she _had_ to find Sonic. She dug up some more sand, interspersed with small rocks and pebbles. Eggman had said that Sonic couldn't die, that he was the universe incarnate.

There was no way he could be dead.

Small droplets fell onto the blazing sands.

"_No,"_ she whispered, _"No, he's not dead."_

She dug up some more sand,

"_He's not!" _she hissed.

She dug up a large stone.

"_He's NOT!!" _the hedgehog cried out, her voice wavering.

Tears fell freely onto the sands.

Amy felt a hand on her shoulder. Tails.

"Amy, it's...it's...useless...there's no way Sonic could have survived the explosion, let alone the collapse." the kitsune whispered softly.

The hedgehog shook her head furiously, continuing her futile excavation.

Mighty sighed, deep and sad.

Amy stopped.

_He...HE was sighing! As though he had any right to even live!!_

_While Sonic...died...._

She stood up in rage, swirling round to face the armadillo,

"Shut up! This is your fault! If you and fucking Robotnik hadn't planned all this then...then..." her voice weakened and died off.

Mighty's eyes hardened, he drew back a fist, ready to swing it at the hedgehog. Inches away from hitting her, he stopped, his arm fell to his side. A solitary tear ran down his cheek. He spat at the ground before Amy, and left the group, walking off into the desert.

For a short while, nothing was said. Then Rouge also spat,

"Good riddance, I hope he _dies_."

_Like Espio...and Sonic..._

Tails cleared his throat,

"Still...he _did_ get us out of there. Otherwise we would've been crushed.

It was true; Knuckles had, against Rouge's wishes, freed Mighty from the wreckage of the door, and the armadillo had led the out, and not a moment too soon. Just as the exit had loomed, a huge explosion had rung throughout base, and a bout of fire raced up the corridor.

They _would _be dead if it hadn't been for Mighty. And the irony just made it easier to hate the murdering armadillo.

Amy pursued her irrational digging.

She felt another hand at her shoulder, one wearing gloves stained with the blood of a loved one,

"Amy," Rouge said softly, "It's never easy when someone you love dies..."

Tear flowed from both the bat's and the hedgehog's eyes, "Sometimes, you have to accept that they're gone." the bat perused, her voice noticeably wavering.

Amy shook her head, much weaker this time,

"No...no....he can't be gone...not Sonic..." she croaked hoarsely, tears flowing in the waterless desert.

The two mourners drew each other into a sympathetic half-hug,

"I know," Rouge murmured back, her eyes not seeing what was before her, but what was past her. Her happy times with Espio, her fond memories with the beautiful chameleon, "But sometimes...it's harder to keep believing that they're not...dead. Sometimes, it's easier to realize that they're gone..."

Salty tears fell onto the lifeless desert.

Amy gurgled like a newborn,

"I just...I just wish that I'd had spent more time with him...just..._with_ him, not chasing after him, or trying to annoy him..."

Tails quietly interrupted,

"We should go. If we want to get out of this desert alive, it'd be better to not waste any more time."

Amy nodded weakly, standing up. She took one last look at the half-submerged stones...imagining them as the headstones to Sonic's sandy grave.

Knuckles carefully put an arm around her,

"Come on. We _really_ should be going." he murmured softly, not wanting to upset the hedgehog. The group slowly made their way back towards Red Mountain, the sun setting over the horizon, framing the mountain and sands in a dying blood-red light.

End

* * *

Well, that's all folks! Thanks to everyone who read and especially everyone who reviewed. ^^ What do you think, does it deserve a sequel? As always, please R&R, even thought it's finished! ^^


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